The Unseen Descrimination

Image by nedrichards via Flickr

All foreigners that have entered the US at one point or another over the last 8 years have their own horror stories to tell. The long lines, the disbelief of the immigration officers, the pitying looks of our fellow American travelers, and the feeling of helplessness, knowing that I can do nothing at this point, and the more I express my frustration the slimmer my chances are to eventually enter the States. Criminals until proven otherwise.

I am used to telling my wife that this is nothing. It is the price we pay for being foreigners. That as soon as we pass immigration, no-one can tell between us and a 10 generation American.
But imagine life like that, not only in airports in immigration lines, but always, anywhere, in your own country, where you are host, not the guest.

This post is about everyday lives of Arab Israelis. It will be short, and personal, and no blame or guilt. Only much sorrow. Just to fill in some of you - Israel has about 80% (or 6 million) Jews, and about 20% (or 1.5 million) Arabs. Usually they are called either Arab Israelis or Palestinian Israelis. 90% of them are Muslim, most others are Christians, and few other sects and religions. They are citizens of Israel, not of Palestine.
De jure, they are equal citizens. De facto, they are way below that.

It all started when I was invited to teach this summer a class at Haifa University. Like most other Universities, Haifa U is pretty progressive. Actually, it is one of the most diverse and culturally-integrated universities, with a large Arab minority. A couple of days ago I received the forms I have to fill. They ask for copies of my academic certificates (of course), and... my military service certificate.

Excuse me? Why? They also ask for my rank and recruitment and release dates from the army. EXCUSE ME???

All Jews in Israel must serve in the army (3 years for boys, 2 years for girls). Arabs are not allowed to serve, and are not being offered a civil-service alternative.
The forms I received from Haifa U have no obvious discrimination. Nowhere I was asked to state my religion or nationality. Still, by nature they are discriminatory. Only jews can bring these certificates. Arab citizens are reminded, every minute of their time, that they are second class citizens.

Btw, these details are needed since my military service counts towards my seniority. I am not sure how being in the Israeli army prepares me for my job as a university professor, but apparently this is another mean to pay jews more than arabs who hold corresponding jobs.

Needless to say, after asking the good people in New Profile, I refuse to give these details, and will return the forms next week without them.


***

But this was really only one example out of many. Another example - a good friend of ours, a Palestinian Israeli (or Arab Israeli, they both mean more or less the same) married a German guy. He is a Palestinian descendant, since his parents come from Gaza. He was born and raised in Germany.
When they wanted to come to Israel to visit her parents, he was denied entrance. So he cannot meet his in-laws. It is a good excuse to avoid these huge family dinners, I admit, but who is the country to decide that? Just to be clear - if she were Jewish, he would have been given citizenship...

***

There are so many other examples, I don’t even want to begin. Somehow, everything is legal, everything adheres to “democratic” principles, with no legal discrimination. Everything is Kosher...

***

My uncle in-law bought an apartment in a new house. They wanted no Arabs in the building. So they defined it as an ‘observant building’ (in Hebrew it sounds even more ridiculous). Everyone in this building should observe Shabbat (or Sabbath; needless to say, my uncle in-law has no intentions of doing so). But now Arabs cannot move in there.

***

In general allocating property and land is tricky. How can you do that without discrimination? Easily. Much of the land in Israel does not belong to the state - it belongs to a company, the Jewish National Fund. To be clear, it is a private company, and thus can do whatever it wishes with the lands. In simple words, it can discriminate based on religious (and its charter says that its mission is to give land to Jews only). At the same time, it controls public lands, and 80% of its budget come from the Israeli government. Furthermore, one of its affiliated companies buys properties for Jews outside the green line (in the Palestinian area), even though this area was never annexed to Israel by the Israeli government... Dirty business.
The supreme court has ruled this to be illegal several times, so the JNF has to update its mechanisms. But the goal remains.
To further disguise the discrimination, the Hebrew name of the company lacks the word ‘jewish’, and it translates literally to something like “the fund for Israel”...

***

This approach, to maintain the discrimination of Arabs by separation, exists everywhere. In the States of Israel, Jews and Arabs do not go to the same schools, cannot marry each other, and cannot even be carried next to each other. Jews and Arabs do not see each other in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. In fact, I have interacted with more Arab Israelis in the States over the last 6 years than in Israel throughout my life.

Imagine if the US government will prevent inter-faith marriages, claiming that there is nothing discriminatory here, since no religion can marry no other religion. Imagine the way Jews would react here.
How come this still goes on in Israel?

I have no idea.

***

If you read Hebrew, you will enjoy this.

***

Not to mention bigger issues, such as the attempt of the Israeli parliament to disqualify Arab parties from participating in the general elections - not in spite of being a democracy, but in the name of democracy... Luckily, also here the supreme court intervened. Sometimes I feel that there are two Israel's - one for 9 supreme court judges and myself, and one for all the rest...

***

Meanwhile I have to return the forms to Haifa University. I just found out that Arab Israelis hold approximately 60 to 70 of the Israel’s 5,000 university faculty positions. That is about 5% of their per-capita number. At least Haifa U has the Jewish-Arab Center, whose goal is to promote Jewish-Arab cooperation.

So now what. I think I will write in the forms that my service in the occupation army did not prepare me for the roles I intend to fulfill as an educator.

The Everyday Guide For Killing People

Where was Brecht correct?

General, your tank is a powerful vehicle.
It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.
But it has one defect:
It needs a driver.

General, your bomber is powerful.
It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.
But it has one defect:
It needs a mechanic.

General, man is very useful.
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect:
He can think.

גנרל, הטנק שלך הוא רכב חזק,
הוא רומס את היער, הוא מוחץ מאה אנשים.
אבל יש לו חסרון אחד:
הוא זקוק לנהג.

גנרל, המפציץ שלך חזק.
הוא טס מהר מן הסופה, הוא עומס יותר מפיל.
אבל יש לו חסרון אחד:
הוא זקוק למכונאי.

גנרל, האדם שמיש מאוד.
הוא יודע לטוס, הוא יודע לרצוח.
אבל יש לו חסרון אחד:
הוא יודע לחשוב.

(Bartlett Brecht, 1938)


Where was Brecht wrong?

Yes, we can think. But Brecht may have placed too much hopes on this ability. The distance from ‘can’ to ‘do’ is far...

In this post I address the following question: How can Israeli soldiers commit the actions they do? How can individuals belong to a people of high morality, and at the same time aim and shoot at innocent children? What do Israeli soldiers think when they prevent a pregnant woman from crossing the checkpoint, when they use illegal phosphorous bombs in civilian neighborhoods, when they fire at people for quietly protesting, or when they arrest people for speaking openly in Tel Aviv?

And what does it say about Israel as a country?

I am not talking about warfare or self-defense. I am talking about cases in which there is clear right and wrong. Wrong - to shoot someone because you have a weapon and he does not. Because you can.

Rather than pasting here horror youtube videos, here are two small examples, of soldiers shooting protesters without any reason. In the first example, soldiers shot a person who had been arrested and was lying on the ground, bound hand and foot (yes, the lieutenant colonel who did that still serves in the army, and yes, the father of the girl who took the video was arrested). In the second example soldiers shot an Israel for standing. Let me know if you want more videos, my library and nightmares are full of these.

The question of how people commit these crimes becomes even more puzzling when we remember that Israel has compulsory military service. The aggression of the Israeli soldiers cannot be explained with selection bias, since everyone serves. Young adults who vote for leftist parties and object the occupation man the checkpoints and prevent children from going to school. How do these people, my brothers, forget to think when they drive the tank?

- First, people operate out of fear. Israelis are sure that the Palestinians are a threat to Israel. They refuse to see how weak the Palestinians are, and how little threat they impose. Even I started to realize the dimensions of the fear campaign only after I had moved to the States. Btw, this is not out of evil. The politicians themselves are terrified. People are sure that every kitten is a Trojan horse. And as Naomi Klein shows, fear is a very effective way to control people.


The fear system works very well. Even once one is done with the compulsory service in the army, after three years of indoctrination, one still has to serve on reserve for about one month every year. 10% lifelong sentence.

- Second, people operate as part of the organization. People are very happy to identify with their mission. They shoot because they were given a gun and are expected to. They shoot because everybody shoots. Have you heard of the prison experiment? This was a simulated prison in Stanford’s corridors and offices, in which half of the students were randomly assigned to be the prisoners and the other half to be the guards. “The experiment quickly grew out of hand. Prisoners suffered ... sadistic and humiliating treatment from the guards.” (Wikipedia). Again, these guards were their classmates. The experiment had to be stopped earlier than planned, after only 6 days. Wikipedia: “The experiment's result has been argued to demonstrate the impressionability and obedience of people when provided with a legitimizing ideology and social and institutional support,”. We play our roles, cling to our guns and ideology. As Zimbardo, the professor who conducted the original study, testifies: “Most of the evil in the world comes about not out of evil motives, but somebody says: be a team player... When a person feels: I am not accountable, this is the role I am playing”.


Fascinating and sick. Watch the 6 minute version, the 23 minute version, or See the slides. The Israeli administration knows this, and does as much as it can to help its soldiers avoid excessive thinking... For example, "Israel's Cabinet promised legal and financial support for any officers facing trial [about the war-crimes in Gaza]" (the Associated Press). In that way, the army tells its soldiers: 'You don't need to consider whether these are war crimes - we did all the thinking for you. Furthermore, we are your defenders. You awe us'. The outcome - bigger identification with the army and its goals, rather than critical thinking.

- Third, people feel comfortable obeying to authority. Again, this removes personal responsibility. This time I will point you to the Milgram experiment. This guy asked participants to give electric shocks to others. The shocks were sufficient to turn a person into a nice little campfire. Most participants obeyed with no second thoughts. After all, they were given orders.

The good about the following youtube clip is that it is only 2 minutes long and gives the facts in order. The bad is that you can’t really see what is going on and the music is awful :)

Here is a 10 minutes replication of this study (Darren Brown)

What we awe Brecht (and everybody else)
We awe them to think.
Yes, we are responsible. Yes, we are individual human beings, capable of telling right for wrong.
No, no excuse can be given for making a pregnant woman deliver a dead baby at the checkpoint.
In Israel, people who rediscover their conscious and refuse to participate in these horrors are called refusniks.