Comments on: An unusual conversation http://blog.listingslab.com/2008/03/15/an-unusual-conversation/ Listings Lab Blog Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:49:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Quit your day job. Go on. I dare you. » Blog Archive » A follow up to an unsual conversation http://blog.listingslab.com/2008/03/15/an-unusual-conversation/#comment-1775 Quit your day job. Go on. I dare you. » Blog Archive » A follow up to an unsual conversation Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:57:02 +0000 http://blog.listingslab.com/2008/03/15/an-unusual-conversation/#comment-1775 [...] really love blogging sometimes. Today I received this response from my previous post about Israel, which is by far the best and most informative comment [...] [...] really love blogging sometimes. Today I received this response from my previous post about Israel, which is by far the best and most informative comment [...]

]]> By: miriam http://blog.listingslab.com/2008/03/15/an-unusual-conversation/#comment-1774 miriam Sun, 16 Mar 2008 08:44:49 +0000 http://blog.listingslab.com/2008/03/15/an-unusual-conversation/#comment-1774 Hi from Jerusalem! I'd like to clarify a bit about Israel and what your new friend told you. A large percentage of the Israeli population is made up of non-Jews, including Arabs, Druze and Christians. I'm not sure if it's 30%, but it's a lot. The Arab citizens of Israel enjoy the same democratic rights as everyone else in this country, such as free education, health care, voting rights, freedom of speech, etc. The difference between them and the Jews is that they do not have to serve in the army, so they get the benefits without paying that price. I'm not saying their situation is perfect - they do suffer from certain levels of discrimination. But so do many minorities in Israel, including the ultra-Orthodox, Russian and Ethiopian immigrants, and the Sefardic residents of the development towns. I don't know if you are aware, but the residents of an Israeli development town called Sderot are bombed daily by Kassams from Gaza. The fact that the State of Israel lets this continue is a form of discrimination because I can tell you that if Tel Aviv were being bombed, the government would act immediately. With all the complaints that Israeli Arabs have about their situation, if you ask them if they would move to Gaza to be part of the new independent Palestinian entity, they would ask you if you are crazy. So it can't be too bad here. I met one Arab who told me that he moved heaven and earth to move into Israeli Jerusalem so that his sick father could get good health care. When the security wall was built through Jerusalem, tens of thousands of Arabs flocked to the Israeli side in order to retain their access to jobs and health care. If it were so bad, would they try so hard to be part of Israel? As for their parliamentary representation - that's simply a result of their representation in the population. Their are many other two-member parties in the Knesset. If there were more Arabs voting for the Arab parties, they'd have more representation. It doesn't help them that one of their major leaders, Azmi Bishara, had to defect from Israel recently under suspicions of treason (http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Briefs/11236.htm), and another prior to the Lebanon war suggested that terrorists kidnap Israeli soldiers, which indeed happened (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/106857). With regards to your clients - they could be Jewish Israeli speaking Hebrew. Sometimes Hebrew can sound like Arabic, plus Hebrew is also written right-to-left. Anyways, if you have any questions about Israel, Israelis, and other Middle Eastern things, feel free to contact me. Miriam Hi from Jerusalem! I’d like to clarify a bit about Israel and what your new friend told you.

A large percentage of the Israeli population is made up of non-Jews, including Arabs, Druze and Christians. I’m not sure if it’s 30%, but it’s a lot. The Arab citizens of Israel enjoy the same democratic rights as everyone else in this country, such as free education, health care, voting rights, freedom of speech, etc. The difference between them and the Jews is that they do not have to serve in the army, so they get the benefits without paying that price.

I’m not saying their situation is perfect - they do suffer from certain levels of discrimination. But so do many minorities in Israel, including the ultra-Orthodox, Russian and Ethiopian immigrants, and the Sefardic residents of the development towns. I don’t know if you are aware, but the residents of an Israeli development town called Sderot are bombed daily by Kassams from Gaza. The fact that the State of Israel lets this continue is a form of discrimination because I can tell you that if Tel Aviv were being bombed, the government would act immediately.

With all the complaints that Israeli Arabs have about their situation, if you ask them if they would move to Gaza to be part of the new independent Palestinian entity, they would ask you if you are crazy. So it can’t be too bad here. I met one Arab who told me that he moved heaven and earth to move into Israeli Jerusalem so that his sick father could get good health care. When the security wall was built through Jerusalem, tens of thousands of Arabs flocked to the Israeli side in order to retain their access to jobs and health care. If it were so bad, would they try so hard to be part of Israel?

As for their parliamentary representation - that’s simply a result of their representation in the population. Their are many other two-member parties in the Knesset. If there were more Arabs voting for the Arab parties, they’d have more representation. It doesn’t help them that one of their major leaders, Azmi Bishara, had to defect from Israel recently under suspicions of treason (http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Briefs/11236.htm), and another prior to the Lebanon war suggested that terrorists kidnap Israeli soldiers, which indeed happened (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/106857).

With regards to your clients - they could be Jewish Israeli speaking Hebrew. Sometimes Hebrew can sound like Arabic, plus Hebrew is also written right-to-left.

Anyways, if you have any questions about Israel, Israelis, and other Middle Eastern things, feel free to contact me.

Miriam

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