Israel's worrisome path

Over the past few months, the Israeli Knesset has passed a series of laws that seriously undermine Israel’s claim to be an open, tolerant democracy. As advocates for the rights of Palestinian citizens ofIsrael currently visiting the United States to meet with policy makers and members of civil society, we are deeply concerned about these developments. Sadly, while a wave of democratic uprisings sweep the region, Israel, the self-proclaimed “only democracy in the Middle East” is moving in the opposite direction, towards a less open, less democratic society.

While this disturbing trend has been in evidence for a number of years now, the election of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing coalition government has accelerated the process and laid it bare for all to see. Thus, in just the past few weeks we have witnessed the passing of a law that will deny public funding to any institution that commemorates the disaster that befell Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948 (the so-called “Nakba Law”) and another law that will allow small communities to have selection committees that can reject applicants on the basis of "social suitability.” 

Arabs are not the only target. The Knesset passed a law in February imposing onerous reporting requirements on non-governmental organizations to disclose funding from foreign governments, a move seen as intended to stifle the documentation ofIsraeli human rights abuses.

Israeli, Palestinian, and international human rights organizations have all condemned these laws. Human Rights Watch issued a statement saying that they “threaten Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel and others with yet more officially sanctioned discrimination…Israeli parliamentarians should be working hard to end glaring inequality, not pushing through discriminatory laws to control who can live where and to create a single government-approved view of Israel's history."

Meanwhile, anti-Arab racism and incitement has grown to alarming levels in Israeli society. In January, Rabbi Dov Lior, a senior figure in the Religious Zionism movement, warned against Jewish women marrying non-Jewish men, saying that “Gentile sperm leads to barbaric offspring”. Last October, a group of prominent rabbis on the government payroll wrote an open letter urging Jews "to refrain from renting or selling apartments to non-Jews". And last summer, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas Party, which is a part of Israel’s coalition government, said that Gentiles exist only to “serve” Jews, declaring,  “They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat. That is why gentiles were created.” A month earlier, Yosef described Palestinians as "evil, bitter enemies" and called on god to make them "perish from this world" by striking them with a plague.

In this type of political climate, is it any wonder that a recent poll showed that 46 percent of young Israeli Jews believe that the rights of Arab citizens of Israel should be revoked? Or that a similar poll taken last year revealed that half of Israeli Jewish students don't want Arabs in their classrooms? This is the inevitable result of the racism and intolerance being espoused by senior Israeli political and religious leaders. This systematic racism and discrimination isn’t limited to the Arab community. Other ethnic and religious groups in Israel, such as the Ethiopian, Russian, and Mizrachi communities experience it as well on more subtle levels.

Ironically, Palestinian citizens of Israel are uniquely placed to help heal the rift between Israelis and Palestinians, Arabs and Jews. But rather than use this community’s potential for peace building, extremists, both inside and outside the Knesset, are attempting to suppress its voice and risk inciting its young people to violence. Increased conflict between the Jewish majority and Palestinian minority of Israel will only further complicate the overall situation in the region.

If Israel wants to continue calling itself a liberal democracy and be considered as such by the international community, it must halt its downward slide towards intolerance and authoritarianism and respect the rights of all of its citizens. And if Americans want to live up to their noble ideals and rhetoric about promoting human rights and freedom around the world, they must ensure that their Israeli friends and allies understand and uphold those ideals as well.

Jafar Farah is director of the Mossawa Center, the Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel. Dr. Alla Shainskaya is Chairwoman of the board of Our Heritage, Charter for Democracy.