Racial tension between Jews and Gentiles is often reflected in Yiddish jokes. For example:
An elderly Jewish couple, Max and Sadie, converted to Christianity. Waking up early, Max put on tefillin. Sadie hollered at him, "Max, you don't have to put on tefillin anymore, you converted!" With the heel of his hand, he hits his head exclaiming, "Goyishe kop!"
A Jew was being pestered by a Cossack that followed him around to annoy him. The Jew went into a restaurant; the Cossack went into the restaurant. The Jew sat down at a table, the Cossack sat down at a table opposite him. The Jew calls out his order, "Waiter, some fish!" To irritate the Jew, the Cossack loudly calls out his order, "Waiter, some pig!" After eating, the Jew calls out, "Waiter, some schnapps, 'let the fish swim'." Not to be outdone, the Cossack calls out, "Waiter some vodka, 'let the pig drink'."
These racial jokes are funny proportionate to the degree of one's subconscious fear. In real life, racism is not a laughing matter. Especially after the Holocaust, racism against Jews, even by Jews, is intolerable. During the Holocaust, Jews, called kapos, were forced by the Nazis to implement racial genocide. It is also a horrible tragedy and a pathetic sight to see certain Israeli government officials compelled by "their good friend" the United States to implement ethnic cleansing, not by genocide, but by expulsion. This expulsion of Jews, not necessarily Israelis, is racist.
It is illegal to advocate ejecting Arabs from their homes and forcibly removing them from Israel. How can it be legal to advocate forcibly removing Jews from their homes? While the government may elect to dismantle Israeli army bases and outposts, they have no legal right to remove only Israeli Jews and not remove Israeli Arabs or Christians. It has no right to remove Jews of other nationalities who purchase a farm in Judea or Samaria and wish to farm their private property and live on their farm. If it has such a right, then it must remove any non-Israeli Muslim or Christian farmers from their independent farms, as well.
If certain Jewish settlements are deemed illegal and therefore slated for demolition, then illegal Arab settlements must be demolished as well. The Israeli government is in possession of aerial photographs of each village and town from 1917 until the present, and is well aware that many villages and towns existing today were built by squatters who grabbed land and illegally built houses. Often the houses were built on other people's land, even land purchased decades before by individual Jews or by the Jewish National Fund. All of these communities must be demolished if any Jewish communities are to be evacuated and demolished. If the government refuses to demolish illegal Arab houses, then their policy of evacuating Jewish houses, farms and communities is racism against Jews and must not be tolerated.
One might speculate if there were, hypothetically, 10 Christians living in a Jewish settlement that was slated for evacuation, and 10 Israeli Jews living in Jenin, then wouldn't the Christians be evacuated with the rest of the community and wouldn't the Jews be permitted to remain in Jenin? Certainly, the Christians would be evacuated together with the Jews from a Jewish settlement. However, if they had a monastery in Bethlehem or anywhere else in Palestinian-controlled Judea, Samaria or Gaza, then they certainly would not be evacuated, nor would their church or monastery be demolished. The 10 Jews in Jenin, however, would not be evacuated, but imprisoned, because Israel makes it illegal for Jews to enter Area "A". That is, unless the Palestinians got to them first, in which case they would torture and mutilate the Jews as they did to those Jews who made a wrong turn and found themselves in Ramallah.
The central point is that Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice would never tolerate removing blacks from any neighborhood, not just in the United States, but anywhere in the world. They do, however, insist that Jews, not just Israelis, be forcibly removed from all areas of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. When they speak of pre-1967 borders, they are talking about removing Jews from Ramat Eshkol, the Old City, Mamilla and many neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
This reverse discrimination is not only in relation to settlements, but to land registration. If an Arab registers a land sale in Beit El's land office, the land registration is recorded seamlessly. If a Jew records a sale from an Arab, the land office notifies the Palestinian Authority of the land sale and the land registration can take 15-20 years. In the interim, the Arab seller and real estate agents are killed by the so-called Palestinians, eliminating all witnesses to the sale. As a result, often the land sale is never recorded. This is racism, pure and simple.
This racism against Jews goes beyond the issue of settlements or land registration. The Israeli government interprets its own laws against racism to protect Arabs, but not Jews. For example, in Israel it is illegal to hire only Jews, but it appears to not be illegal to hire only Arabs. For instance, there is one chain of gas stations that I frequented throughout Israel, and every single one of them had only Arab employees at the gas pumps. While it is their prerogative to employ Arabs, it is not their prerogative to hire only Arabs. This is a violation of racism laws and should be prosecuted not just in a civil action, but in a criminal action, as well.
While ironically, blatant racism against Jews is rampant in Israel, it is the United States that initiated and perpetuated racist policies against Jews. Their dogged insistence that Jews must be forcibly removed from their farms, even those that were bona fide purchases, is unconscionable. Their insistence that all Jews be removed from Gaza, from Judea and from Samaria, is not only repugnant, but violates America's own constitutional laws. While the Constitution is not extraterritorial and applies only within the United States, employees of the United States government are barred from violating the civil rights of other Americans overseas. The attorney-general of the United States has the jurisdiction to examine any illegal, racist action by an employee of the federal government. While the public entity enjoys immunity from suit, as do federal employees, there are exceptions - including civil rights violations.
Furthermore, the United States offering financial aid to the Palestinians is also illegal. In order to compel South Africa to end apartheid, the United States passed laws to prevent trade with racist regimes. As such, the United States is barred from contributing to racist activities and from providing aid to racist regimes. The laws are on the books, but it takes precedent-making legal actions to compel adherence to these laws.
There are moments in history that a status quo was reevaluated. For centuries, there were certain conventions regarding Jews in Europe: they were categorically forbidden to own land and to participate in certain professions. As a people, they were expelled from country to country or restricted to a certain region. They certainly were not equal citizens.
During the French Revolution, everything was at a standstill for three days. In the transition from monarchy to republic, the French revolutionaries couldn't make up their mind whether or not to allow Jews to be citizens. After three days of heated debate, they finally felt compelled to permit Jews to be full citizens, to be consistent with their stated ideals of equality, fraternity and liberty.
The new state of Palestine that the free world is eager to create must similarly decide whether they will continue with their racist policies or permit Jews to purchase land in Palestine, to do business there, to live there and to be equal voting citizens. Currently, an Arab that sells land or houses to Jews is executed. This is not an extra-judicial, terrorist act, but the direct implementation of the PA's racist laws. There is a trial and the land dealer is killed, either by firing squad or by execution by their security force, after being tortured and mutilated. The property sale need not be in Judea, Samaria or Gaza, but any Arab selling property to Jews in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Galilee, or anywhere else within the Green Line, is also subject to the death penalty.
The Abus (Ala and Mazen) are making a big show of the single national election since Yasser Arafat was elected to illustrate that Palestine is a democracy. However, before a Republic of Palestine is established, even if it is restricted to portions of Gaza, they will have to determine the future role of non-Muslims in their country, just as the French had to put the Dark Ages behind them in the French revolution.
In a real democracy, people would not have to be forcibly removed from their homes because of religion. If the government changed, the residents would have the option of becoming citizens of the new regime. There is absolutely no justification to remove one Jew, not from his farm and certainly not his entire Jewish community. In a democracy, there is no reason that the current residents could not become dual citizens of Israel and Palestine. After all, all Jews that lived in Israel before 1948 were Palestinians. Non-Israeli Jews, for example, American Jews, should be permitted to remain and be awarded Palestinian citizenship in addition to their American one. Conversely, if all Israelis must be removed, then Israeli Arabs and Christians must be also forcibly removed.
There is no alternative but to challenge the patently illegal racist activities of the United States State Department, the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government.
Professor Jack Golbert is heading a team of attorneys that will research and initiate legal actions both in the United States and Israel. Lawyers who wish to join the class action civil rights suit, American citizens living in Gaza and Samaria regions that are slated for expulsion, and those who can contribute to legal costs (not legal fees) are asked to email us at [email protected].
An elderly Jewish couple, Max and Sadie, converted to Christianity. Waking up early, Max put on tefillin. Sadie hollered at him, "Max, you don't have to put on tefillin anymore, you converted!" With the heel of his hand, he hits his head exclaiming, "Goyishe kop!"
A Jew was being pestered by a Cossack that followed him around to annoy him. The Jew went into a restaurant; the Cossack went into the restaurant. The Jew sat down at a table, the Cossack sat down at a table opposite him. The Jew calls out his order, "Waiter, some fish!" To irritate the Jew, the Cossack loudly calls out his order, "Waiter, some pig!" After eating, the Jew calls out, "Waiter, some schnapps, 'let the fish swim'." Not to be outdone, the Cossack calls out, "Waiter some vodka, 'let the pig drink'."
These racial jokes are funny proportionate to the degree of one's subconscious fear. In real life, racism is not a laughing matter. Especially after the Holocaust, racism against Jews, even by Jews, is intolerable. During the Holocaust, Jews, called kapos, were forced by the Nazis to implement racial genocide. It is also a horrible tragedy and a pathetic sight to see certain Israeli government officials compelled by "their good friend" the United States to implement ethnic cleansing, not by genocide, but by expulsion. This expulsion of Jews, not necessarily Israelis, is racist.
It is illegal to advocate ejecting Arabs from their homes and forcibly removing them from Israel. How can it be legal to advocate forcibly removing Jews from their homes? While the government may elect to dismantle Israeli army bases and outposts, they have no legal right to remove only Israeli Jews and not remove Israeli Arabs or Christians. It has no right to remove Jews of other nationalities who purchase a farm in Judea or Samaria and wish to farm their private property and live on their farm. If it has such a right, then it must remove any non-Israeli Muslim or Christian farmers from their independent farms, as well.
If certain Jewish settlements are deemed illegal and therefore slated for demolition, then illegal Arab settlements must be demolished as well. The Israeli government is in possession of aerial photographs of each village and town from 1917 until the present, and is well aware that many villages and towns existing today were built by squatters who grabbed land and illegally built houses. Often the houses were built on other people's land, even land purchased decades before by individual Jews or by the Jewish National Fund. All of these communities must be demolished if any Jewish communities are to be evacuated and demolished. If the government refuses to demolish illegal Arab houses, then their policy of evacuating Jewish houses, farms and communities is racism against Jews and must not be tolerated.
One might speculate if there were, hypothetically, 10 Christians living in a Jewish settlement that was slated for evacuation, and 10 Israeli Jews living in Jenin, then wouldn't the Christians be evacuated with the rest of the community and wouldn't the Jews be permitted to remain in Jenin? Certainly, the Christians would be evacuated together with the Jews from a Jewish settlement. However, if they had a monastery in Bethlehem or anywhere else in Palestinian-controlled Judea, Samaria or Gaza, then they certainly would not be evacuated, nor would their church or monastery be demolished. The 10 Jews in Jenin, however, would not be evacuated, but imprisoned, because Israel makes it illegal for Jews to enter Area "A". That is, unless the Palestinians got to them first, in which case they would torture and mutilate the Jews as they did to those Jews who made a wrong turn and found themselves in Ramallah.
The central point is that Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice would never tolerate removing blacks from any neighborhood, not just in the United States, but anywhere in the world. They do, however, insist that Jews, not just Israelis, be forcibly removed from all areas of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. When they speak of pre-1967 borders, they are talking about removing Jews from Ramat Eshkol, the Old City, Mamilla and many neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
This reverse discrimination is not only in relation to settlements, but to land registration. If an Arab registers a land sale in Beit El's land office, the land registration is recorded seamlessly. If a Jew records a sale from an Arab, the land office notifies the Palestinian Authority of the land sale and the land registration can take 15-20 years. In the interim, the Arab seller and real estate agents are killed by the so-called Palestinians, eliminating all witnesses to the sale. As a result, often the land sale is never recorded. This is racism, pure and simple.
This racism against Jews goes beyond the issue of settlements or land registration. The Israeli government interprets its own laws against racism to protect Arabs, but not Jews. For example, in Israel it is illegal to hire only Jews, but it appears to not be illegal to hire only Arabs. For instance, there is one chain of gas stations that I frequented throughout Israel, and every single one of them had only Arab employees at the gas pumps. While it is their prerogative to employ Arabs, it is not their prerogative to hire only Arabs. This is a violation of racism laws and should be prosecuted not just in a civil action, but in a criminal action, as well.
While ironically, blatant racism against Jews is rampant in Israel, it is the United States that initiated and perpetuated racist policies against Jews. Their dogged insistence that Jews must be forcibly removed from their farms, even those that were bona fide purchases, is unconscionable. Their insistence that all Jews be removed from Gaza, from Judea and from Samaria, is not only repugnant, but violates America's own constitutional laws. While the Constitution is not extraterritorial and applies only within the United States, employees of the United States government are barred from violating the civil rights of other Americans overseas. The attorney-general of the United States has the jurisdiction to examine any illegal, racist action by an employee of the federal government. While the public entity enjoys immunity from suit, as do federal employees, there are exceptions - including civil rights violations.
Furthermore, the United States offering financial aid to the Palestinians is also illegal. In order to compel South Africa to end apartheid, the United States passed laws to prevent trade with racist regimes. As such, the United States is barred from contributing to racist activities and from providing aid to racist regimes. The laws are on the books, but it takes precedent-making legal actions to compel adherence to these laws.
There are moments in history that a status quo was reevaluated. For centuries, there were certain conventions regarding Jews in Europe: they were categorically forbidden to own land and to participate in certain professions. As a people, they were expelled from country to country or restricted to a certain region. They certainly were not equal citizens.
During the French Revolution, everything was at a standstill for three days. In the transition from monarchy to republic, the French revolutionaries couldn't make up their mind whether or not to allow Jews to be citizens. After three days of heated debate, they finally felt compelled to permit Jews to be full citizens, to be consistent with their stated ideals of equality, fraternity and liberty.
The new state of Palestine that the free world is eager to create must similarly decide whether they will continue with their racist policies or permit Jews to purchase land in Palestine, to do business there, to live there and to be equal voting citizens. Currently, an Arab that sells land or houses to Jews is executed. This is not an extra-judicial, terrorist act, but the direct implementation of the PA's racist laws. There is a trial and the land dealer is killed, either by firing squad or by execution by their security force, after being tortured and mutilated. The property sale need not be in Judea, Samaria or Gaza, but any Arab selling property to Jews in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Galilee, or anywhere else within the Green Line, is also subject to the death penalty.
The Abus (Ala and Mazen) are making a big show of the single national election since Yasser Arafat was elected to illustrate that Palestine is a democracy. However, before a Republic of Palestine is established, even if it is restricted to portions of Gaza, they will have to determine the future role of non-Muslims in their country, just as the French had to put the Dark Ages behind them in the French revolution.
In a real democracy, people would not have to be forcibly removed from their homes because of religion. If the government changed, the residents would have the option of becoming citizens of the new regime. There is absolutely no justification to remove one Jew, not from his farm and certainly not his entire Jewish community. In a democracy, there is no reason that the current residents could not become dual citizens of Israel and Palestine. After all, all Jews that lived in Israel before 1948 were Palestinians. Non-Israeli Jews, for example, American Jews, should be permitted to remain and be awarded Palestinian citizenship in addition to their American one. Conversely, if all Israelis must be removed, then Israeli Arabs and Christians must be also forcibly removed.
There is no alternative but to challenge the patently illegal racist activities of the United States State Department, the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government.
Professor Jack Golbert is heading a team of attorneys that will research and initiate legal actions both in the United States and Israel. Lawyers who wish to join the class action civil rights suit, American citizens living in Gaza and Samaria regions that are slated for expulsion, and those who can contribute to legal costs (not legal fees) are asked to email us at [email protected].