Difference between revisions 1328893 and 1328971 on enwiki

''The neutrality of this article is [[Wikipedia:NPOV dispute|disputed]].''
Compare to [[Arabs and anti-Semitism]].

''Some Israelis hold bigoted views about [[Palestinian]] [[Arabs]]. Many view this as an indication of the hostile intentions of [[Israel]], and something that must be taken into account when analyzing the [[Arab-Israeli conflict]]. Some Israelis work to fight racism against Arabs and Muslims, and also to fight [[Muslim]] [[anti-Semitism]]; as such there are many projects that work to create a peaceful co-existence between Israelis and Arabs. This article is specifically about anti-Arab comments and ideology by Israeli Jews.''

== Anti-Palestinian bigotry ==

A handful of extremist [[Ultra-Orthodox Judaism|Ultra-Orthodox Jewish]] Israeli [[rabbi]]s have described Palestinians as subhuman. None of these people have a role in the major Jewish denominations. Each of the statements below has been condemned by [[rabbis]] and spokespeople from mainstream [[Orthodox Judaism]], [[Conservative Judaism]] and [[Reform Judaism]], and from the (largely non-religious) Israeli press.

* "One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail." -- Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, Feb. 27, 1994 [Source: ''New York Times'', Feb. 28, 1994, p. 1]

* "It is forbidden to be merciful to them, you must give them missiles, with relish — annihilate them. Evil ones, damnable ones," Rabbi Ovadia Yosef about the Palestinian people [Source: ''The Times'', UK - 4/10/01]  
::Yosef is the founder and spiritual leader of the Israeli religious party Shas and is regarded as one of the great rabbis of this generation by much of the Sephardic ultra-orthodox community in Israel. However, Modern Orthodox Jews, non-Orthodox Jews, and secular Jews generally view him as a fanatic; his views are routinely rejected by those outside his community.

Some Israeli politicians have made critical and rude statements about Palestinians that Palestinians consider to be very offensive.

* "There is a huge gap between us (Jews) and our enemies not just in ability but in morality, culture, sanctity of life, and conscience." -- Israeli president Moshe Katsav. ''Jerusalem Post'', May 10, 2001

* "The Palestinians are like crocodiles, the more you give them meat, they want more".... -- Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel at the time - August 28, 2000. Reported in the ''Jerusalem Post'', August 30, 2000

* "[The Palestinians are] beasts walking on two legs." -- Menahim Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, "Begin and the Beasts". ''New Statesman'', 25 June 1982.

"The Palestinians" would be crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the boulders and walls." -- Israeli Prime Minister (?) in a speech to Jewish settlers. ''New York Times'', April 1, 1988 

* "We must do everything to ensure they [the Palestinian refugees] never do return" -- [[David Ben-Gurion]], in his diary, [[July 18]] [[1948]]
:::Quoted in Michael Bar Zohar's Ben-Gurion: the Armed Prophet, Prentice-Hall, 1967, p. 157. Israeli politicians hold that it would be demographic suicide for millions of Palestinian Arabs to move into pre-1967 Israel. Some Palestinians hold that such views are offensive. For instance, 

* "There was no such thing as Palestinians, they never existed." Golda Meir Israeli Prime Minister June 15, 1969

* "If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country." -- David Ben-Gurion (the first Israeli Prime Minister) Quoted by Nahum Goldmann in ''Le Paraddoxe Juif'' (The Jewish Paradox), pp121.

* "We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population." -- [[Israel Koenig]], "[[The Koenig Memorandum]]" 

==== Statements by Israeli Military Leaders ====

* "We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here as slaves." -- Chairman Heilbrun of the Committee for the Re-election of General Shlomo Lahat, the mayor of Tel Aviv, October 1983. This racist view was publicly repudiated by the Israeli public.

* "When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle." -- Rafael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces, ''New York Times'', 14 April 1983. 

* "The thesis that the danger of genocide was hanging over us in June 1967 and that Israel was fighting for its physical existence is only bluff, which was born and developed after the war." -- Israeli General Matityahu Peled, ''Ha'aretz'', 19 March 1972. 

* "We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimeter of Eretz Israel... Force is all they do or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours." -- Rafael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces - Gad Becker, ''Yediot Aharonot'', 13 April 1983, ''New York Times'' 14 April 1983. 

==== Examples of bigotry ====
⏎

⏎

Individual Israelis, speaking on behalf on themselves alone and not as part of a religious denomination or political party, who have engaged in hateful speech against Palestinians.

* "Everybody has to move, run and grab as many hilltops as they can to enlarge the settlements because everything we take now will stay ours... Everything we don't grab will go to them." [[Ariel Sharon]], Israeli Foreign Minister, addressing a meeting of militants from the extreme right-wing [[Tsomet Party]], Agence France Presse, November 15, 1998. 

* "It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly and courageously, a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The first of these is that there is no Zionism, colonialization, or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands." -- Yoram Bar Porath, ''Yediot Aharonot'', July 14, 1972. 

See also:== Israeli and Jewish projects that fight bigotry ==

There are many Israeli and Jewish projects that work to create a peaceful and productive co-existence between Israelis and Arabs. These projects include:

*Neve Shalom Humanitarian Aid Project
*The Hamidrasha Jewish-Arab Beit Midrash 
*The Ir Shalem co-existence program 
*Seeds of Peace 
*Givat Haviva's Jewish-Arab Center for Peace 
*OneVoice, a project of the Peaceworks Foundation 

These projects are discussed in the article on [[Israeli-Arab cooperation projects]],.

See also: [[Anti-Arab]], [[Arabs and anti-Semitism]], [[Anti-Semitism]], [[Religious pluralism]], [[Peace process]]

=== External links ===

[http://www.ajc.org/InTheMedia/Publications.asp?did=449 American Jewish Congress Seeking to advance Jewish-Muslim relations]

[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/muslims/interviews/feisal.html PBS interview with Feisal Abdul Rauf]

[http://asmasociety.org/sermon060602.html A Call to bridge the Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, by Feisal Abdul Rauf]

[http://www.cuii.org/hirabah.htm Khalid Abou El Fadl condemns terrorist attacks as not being true Jihad, and calles them Hirabah, terrorism]