Mortification of the flesh is an act by which an individual or group seeks to mortify or deaden their sinful nature, as a part of the process of sanctification.
In Christianity, mortification of the flesh is undertaken in order to repent for sins and share in the Passion of Jesus. Common forms of Christian mortification that are practiced to this day include fasting, abstinence, as well as pious kneeling. Also common among Christian religious orders in the past were the wearing of sackcloth, as well as self-flagellation in imitation of Jesus Christ's suffering and death. Christian theology holds that the Holy Spirit helps believers in the "mortification of the sins of the flesh." Verses in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) considered to be precursors to Christian ideas of self-mortification include Zechariah 13:6[5] and 1 Kings 18:28–29.
Although the term mortification of the flesh, which is derived from the King James version of Romans 8:13 and Colossians 3:5, is primarily used in a Christian context, other cultures may have analogous concepts of self-denial; secular practices exist as well.
The term mortification of the flesh comes from the Book of Romans 8:13 in the New Testament:
"For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the
Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live."
The same idea is seen in other verses, such as Colossians 3:5 ("Put to
death what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil
desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry") and Galatians 5:24 ("And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires"). Support for such behavior in the Old Testament is found in some verses such as Proverbs 20:30: "Blows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the innermost parts."
According to Christian exegesis, "deeds of the body" and "what is earthly" refer to the "wounded nature" of man or his concupiscence (evil inclinations as a consequence of the Fall of Man); humanity suffers the consequences of the original sin through temptation to sin. The Apostle Paul, who authored Romans, expected believers to "put to death" the deeds of the flesh. The word for 'flesh' in Koine Greek, the language in which the New Testament was originally written, is sarx (σάρξ),
a word denoting the fallen or sinful elements, parts, and proclivities
of humanity. This word is juxtaposed in Romans 8:13 with the term used
for 'body' (σῶμα),
which more strictly refers to the physical body of a human. Thus in
Romans 8:13, Paul draws a parallel between fallen people, with
proclivities to sin without chance of redemption, and redeemed people,
who are so changed that mortification of their fleshly sin can turn to
bodily life, from σάρξ to σῶμα.
Forms of mortification
In
its simplest form, mortification of the flesh can mean merely denying
oneself certain pleasures, such as permanently or temporarily abstaining (i.e. fasting), from meat, alcoholic beverages,
sexual relations, or an area of life that makes the person's spiritual
life more difficult or burdensome. It can also be practiced by choosing a
simple or even impoverished lifestyle; this is often one reason many monastics of various Christian denominations take vows of poverty. Among votarists, traditional forms of physical mortification are chain cilices and hair-shirts. In some of its more severe forms, it can mean using a discipline to flagellate oneself and a spugna to beat oneself.
Purposes
Mortification of the flesh is undertaken by Christians in order to repent of sins and share in the Passion of Jesus.
Through the centuries, some Christians have practiced voluntary penances
as a way of imitating Jesus who, according to the New Testament,
voluntarily accepted the sufferings of his passion and death on the
cross at Calvary in order to redeem humankind. Some Christians note that the cross carried by Jesus is the crossbar or patibulum, a rough tree trunk, which probably weighed 80–110 pounds (36–50 kg).
Jesus also fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, an example of submission
to the first person of the Trinity, God the Father, and as a way of
preparing for ministry.
The early Christians mortified the flesh through martyrdom and
through what has been called "confession of the faith": accepting
torture in a joyful way. As Christians experienced persecution,
they often embraced their fate of suffering due to their love for
Christ and the transformation they said they experienced from following
him; these individuals became martyrs of the Christian faith. St. Jerome, a Western church father and biblical scholar who translated the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate), was famous for his severe penances in the desert and his propagation of Christian asceticism including from his base in Palestine.
Instruments of penance
A confraternity of penitents in Italy mortifying the flesh with disciplines in a seven-hour procession; penitents wear capirote so that attention is not drawn toward themselves as they repent but rather to God.
Christians practicing mortification of the flesh often use
instruments of penance as they repent, with the purpose of being
contrite and sharing in the suffering of Jesus. These include the
following:
Discipline, a scourge usually having seven tails (representing the seven deadly sins and seven virtues) for self-flagellation of the back
Hairshirt, a garment made of camel's hair or sackcloth worn to cause the Christian mild discomfort
Chain cilice, a wire chain worn around the legs to cause the penitent mild discomfort
Spugna, a round cork containing metal studs, metal spikes, or needles that is used to beat one's chest
Some canonized Catholic saints and founders of Catholic religious organizations practiced mortification in order to imitate Christ.Another way of mortification that developed quickly in the early centuries was celibacy,
which the Catholic tradition interprets as renouncing the joy of human
marriage for a superior chastity and higher supernatural ends (cf. Works of Supererogation).[citation needed] for the sake of Christ.
For they [our teachers] have always
taught concerning the cross that it behooves Christians to bear
afflictions. This is the true, earnest, and unfeigned mortification, to
wit, to be exercised with divers afflictions, and to be crucified with
Christ. Moreover, they teach that every Christian ought to train and
subdue himself with bodily restraints, or bodily exercises and labors
that neither satiety nor slothfulness tempt him to sin, but not that we
may merit grace or make satisfaction for sins by such exercises. And
such external discipline ought to be urged at all times, not only on a
few and set days. So Christ commands, Luke 21:34: Take heed lest your
hearts be overcharged with surfeiting; also Matt. 17:21: This kind goeth
not out but by prayer and fasting. Paul also says, 1 Cor. 9:27: I keep
under my body and bring it into subjection. Here he clearly shows that
he was keeping under his body, not to merit forgiveness of sins by that
discipline, but to have his body in subjection and fitted for spiritual
things, and for the discharge of duty according to his calling.
In the Lutheran tradition, mortification of the flesh is not done in order to earn merit,
but instead to "keep the body in a condition such that it does not
hinder one from doing what one has been commanded to do, according to
one's calling (Latin: juxta vocationem suam)." In The Ninety-Five Theses, Martin Luther stated that "inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh." He practiced mortification of the flesh through fasting and self-flagellation, even sleeping in a stone cell without a blanket.
Methodism
Illustration from The Circuit Rider: A Tale of the Heroic Age by Edward Eggleston depicting a Methodist circuit rider on horseback
Samuel Wesley Sr. examined the writings of Thomas à Kempis on the mortification of the flesh and concluded that "mortification is still an indispensable Christian duty." His son, John Wesley, the evangelical Christian progenitor of the Methodist Church continued "to hold à Kempis in high regard".
As such, he likewise wrote that "efforts to manifest true faith would
be 'quickened' by self mortification and entire obedience". Moreover, he "spoke approvingly of 'voluntary instances of mortification' in his journals". Methodist circuit riders were known for practicing the spiritual discipline of mortifying the flesh as they "arose well before dawn for solitary prayer; they remained on their knees without food or drink or physical comforts sometimes for hours on end". John Cennick, the first Methodist itinerant preacher, prayed
nine times a day, fasted and "fancying dry bread too great an
indulgence for so great a sinner as himself, he began to feed on
potatoes, acorns, crabs, and grass". The Methodist evangelist
John Wesley Childs was known for "limiting what he would eat" and
choosing "to walk beside his horse rather than to ride in order to
demonstrate his willingness to suffer for his calling and to try[ing] to
heighten his religious experience through subjecting himself to
trials." The Wesleyan Methodist Magazine in 1813 published a statement written by Matthew Henry for Christian believers:
By using yourselves to
consideration, you will come to be aware of the snares that your
spiritual enemies lay for you, of the snake under the green grass, and
will not be imposed upon so easily as many are by the wiles of Satan;
and by habituating yourselves to self-denial
and mortification of the flesh, and a holy contempt of this world, you
will wrest the most dangerous weapons of the hand of the strong man
armed, and will take from him that part of his armour most trusted, for
it is by the world and the flesh that he mostly fights against us: nay,
and this sober-mindedness will put you the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day; and so to resist the devil, that he may flee from you.
Western Orthodoxy
The Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate states that "mortification of the flesh, or the putting to death of the passions which hinder attainment of the kingdom of heaven, is practiced with three disciplines of self-denial". These spiritual disciplines
include "unostentatious fasting or self-denial; increased prayer, by
attending to worship and various devotions; and the sacrificial giving
of alms (charitable donations)."
Other Christian viewpoints
It became "quite common" for members of the Oxford Movement within the Anglican Communion to practice self-flagellation using a discipline. Congregationalist writer and leader within the evangelical Christian movement, Sarah Osborn, practiced self-flagellation in order "to remind her of her continued sin, depravity, and vileness in the eyes of God".
According to other evangelical Christian commentators, using Paul's
writings and other passages from the New Testament to justify the
practise of mortification of the flesh is a complete misinterpretation,
arguing that Paul shows a very high view of Christ's redeeming work in
the verses leading up to Colossians 1:24.
"He understands this redemptive
work to be finished, completed, and perfected. Nothing remains to be
done, and the suffering of Christ's followers does not put the finishing
touches on the triumph of Calvary. Paul does not believe that suffering
has any atoning benefit for himself or for others. It does, however,
'serve to increase Paul's living knowledge of Christ.'"
This suffering Paul refers to comes as one takes on the commission to
share the gospel. Persecution and suffering such as that experienced by
Christ will follow and Christians should see this suffering as a divine
necessity. In chapter 9, "Paul compares the evangelistic lifestyle of
believers to athletes who sacrifice normal pursuits for the sake of
strict training and a competitive edge". In the Corinth church there were grey areas of lifestyle and behaviors
not specifically covered by the Mosaic law, and Paul was encouraging
them to discipline themselves to abstain from those behaviors and
practices for the sake of winning others to Christ.
Analogous non-Christian concepts
Indigenous practices and shamanism
Some
indigenous cultures' shamans believe that endurance of pain or denial
of appetites serves to increase spiritual power. In many indigenous
cultures, painful rites are used to mark sexual maturity, marriage,
procreation, or other major life stages. In Africa and Australia,
indigenous people sometimes use genital mutilation on boys and girls
that is intentionally painful, including circumcision, subincision, clitoridectomy, piercing, or infibulation. In some Native American tribes enduring scarification
or the bites of ants are common rituals to mark a boy's transition to
adulthood. Human rights organizations in several areas of the world have
protested some of these methods, which can be forced upon the
participants, although some are voluntary and are a source of pride and
status.
Shamans often use painful rites and self-denial such as fasting or celibacy to attain transformation, or to commune with spirits.
Secular practices
It has been speculated that extreme practices of mortification of the flesh may be used to obtain an altered state of consciousness to achieve spiritual experiences or visions. In modern times, members of the Church of Body Modification
believe that by manipulating and modifying their bodies (by painful
processes) they can strengthen the bond between their bodies and
spirits, and become more spiritually aware. This group uses rites of
passage from many traditions including Hinduism, Buddhism, and shamanism, to seek their aims.
In some contexts, modern practices of body modification and
plastic surgery overlap with mortification. Often, secular people will
undergo painful experiences in order to become more self-aware, to take
control of their bodies or "own" them more fully, to bond with a group
that is spiritual in its aims, or to overcome the body's limitations in
ways that do not refer to any higher power. Many times these rites are
intended to empower the participant, rather than humble them. This
represents a very different aim than many traditional mortifications.
Roland Loomis re-creates Sun Dance ceremonies and suspensions for those who believe these painful procedures expand their consciousness. Fakir Musafar
explained his use of these rites as a way to awaken the spirit to the
body's limits, and put it in control of them. Others who have used these
experiences to transcend physical limitations report a feeling of
mastery over their physical circumstance, along with a widened
perspective.
Racism in Israel encompasses all forms and manifestations of racism experienced in Israel, irrespective of the colour or creed of the perpetrator and victim, or their citizenship, residency, or visitor status. More specifically in the Israeli context, racism in Israel refers to racism directed against Israeli Arabs by Israeli Jews, intra-Jewish racism between the various Jewish ethnic divisions (in particular against Ethiopian Jews), historic and current racism towards Mizrahi Jews although some believe the dynamics have reversed, and racism on the part of Israeli Arabs against Israeli Jews.
Racism on the part of Israeli Jews against Arabs in Israel exists
in institutional policies, personal attitudes, the media, education,
immigration rights, housing,
social life and legal policies. Some elements within the Ashkenazi
Israeli Jewish population have also been described as holding
discriminatory attitudes towards fellow Jews of other backgrounds,
including against Ethiopian Jews, Indian Jews, Mizrahi Jews, Sephardi Jews, etc. Although intermarriage between Ashkenazim
and Sephardim/Mizrahim is increasingly common in Israel, and social
integration is constantly improving, disparities continue to persist. Ethiopian Jews
in particular have faced discrimination from non-Black Jews. It has
been suggested that the situation of the Ethiopian Jews as 'becoming
white' is similar to that of some European immigrants like Poles and Italians who arrived in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Israel has broad anti-discrimination laws that prohibit
discrimination by both government and non-government entities on the
basis of race, religion, and political beliefs, and prohibits incitement to racism. The Israeli government and many groups within Israel have undertaken efforts to combat racism. Israel is a state-party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and is a signatory of the Convention against Discrimination in Education. Israel's President Reuven Rivlin
announced to a meeting of academics in October 2014 that it is finally
time for Israel to live up to its promise as a land of equality, time to
cure the epidemic of racism. "Israeli society is sick, and it is our
duty to treat this disease", Rivlin stated.
Groups subjected to racism
Racism against Arab citizens by Israeli Jews
Vandalized grave. The graffiti says "death to Arabs" (מוות לערבים, mavet laArabim).
Racism against Arab citizens of Israel
on the part of the Israeli state and some Israeli Jews has been
identified by critics in personal attitudes, the media, education,
immigration rights, housing segregation, and social life. Nearly all
such characterizations have been denied by the state of Israel. The Or Commission, set up to explain the October 2000 unrest in many Israeli Arab communities found,
"The state and generations of its government failed in a
lack of comprehensive and deep handling of the serious problems created
by the existence of a large Arab minority inside the Jewish state.
Government handling of the Arab sector has been primarily neglectful and
discriminatory. The establishment did not show sufficient sensitivity
to the needs of the Arab population, and did not take enough action in
order to allocate state resources in an equal manner. The state did not
do enough or try hard enough to create equality for its Arab citizens or
to uproot discriminatory or unjust phenomenon."
According to the 2004 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices for Israel and the Occupied Territories, the Israeli
government had done "little to reduce institutional, legal, and societal
discrimination against the country's Arab citizens". The 2005 U.S. Department of State
report on Israel wrote: "[T]he government generally respected the human
rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas,
including ... institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against
the country's Arab citizens."
The 2010 U.S. State Department Country Report stated that Israeli law
prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, and that government
effectively enforced these prohibitions. Former Likud MK and Minister of Defense Moshe Arens
has criticized the treatment of minorities in Israel, saying that they
did not bear the full obligation of Israeli citizenship, nor were they
extended the full privileges of citizenship.
Israel is a state-party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
The 1998 Report of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination found that the Convention "is far from fully implemented
in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and that the shortfall
contributes very significantly to the dangerous escalation of tension
in the region". The report positively noted the measures taken by Israel
to prohibit the activities of racist political parties, the amendment
of the Equal Opportunity in Employment Law, prohibiting discrimination
in the labour sphere on the grounds of national ethnic origin, country
of origin, beliefs, political views, political party, affiliation or
age, and the Israeli efforts to reduce and eventually eradicate the
economic and educational gap between the Jewish majority and the Arab
minority.
Polls
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) published reports documenting racism in Israel, and the 2007 report suggested that anti-Arab racism
in the country was increasing. One analysis of the report summarized it
thus: "Over two-thirds of Israeli teens believe Arabs to be less
intelligent, uncultured and violent. Over a third of Israeli teens fear
Arabs all together ... The report becomes even grimmer, citing the
ACRI's racism poll, taken in March 2007, in which 50% of Israelis taking
part said they would not live in the same building as Arabs, will not
befriend, or let their children befriend Arabs and would not let Arabs
into their homes." The 2008 report from ACRI says the trend of increasing racism is continuing. An Israeli minister charged the poll as biased and not credible.
The Israeli government spokesman responded that the Israeli government
was "committed to fighting racism whenever it raises its ugly head and
is committed to full equality to all Israeli citizens, irrespective of
ethnicity, creed or background, as defined by our declaration of
independence".
Another 2007 report, by the Center Against Racism, also found
hostility against Arabs was on the rise. Among its findings, it reported
that 75% of Israeli Jews do not approve of Arabs and Jews sharing
apartment buildings; that over half of Jews would not want to have an
Arab boss and that marrying an Arab amounts to "national treason"; and
that 55% of the sample thought Arabs should be kept separate from Jews
in entertainment sites. Half wanted the Israeli government to encourage
Israeli Arabs to emigrate. About 40% believed Arab citizens should have
their voting rights removed.
A March 2010 poll by Tel Aviv University found that 49.5% of
Israeli Jewish high school students believe Israeli Arabs should not be
entitled to the same rights as Jews in Israel. 56% believe Arabs should
not be eligible to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
An October 2010 poll by the Dahaf polling agency found that 36% of Israeli Jews favor eliminating voting rights for non-Jews.
2003–2009 polling showed that between 42% and 56% of Israelis agreed
that "Israeli Arabs suffer from discrimination as opposed to Jewish
citizens"; 80% of Israeli Arabs agreed with that statement in 2009.
A 2012 poll revealed widespread support among Israeli Jews for
discrimination against Israeli Arabs, including 33% of respondents
believing Israeli Arabs should be denied the right to vote, 42%
objecting to their children going to the same schools as Arabs, and 49%
"[wanting] the state to treat Jews better than Arabs".
In November 2014, after two Arabs from East Jerusalem perpetrated a massacre in a Jerusalem synagogue by using axes, knives, and a gun, the mayor of Ashkelon, Itamar Shimoni,
announced that he planned to fire city construction workers who were
Arab. His action brought a storm of protest from politicians, as well as
the prime minister and president. Police in Ashkelon said they would
ignore Shimoni's directive and "obey the law". Nir Barkat,
mayor of Jerusalem, said "We cannot discriminate the Arabs", and added,
"I cannot help but think of where we were 70 years ago in Europe. We
cannot generalize as they did to Jews. Here in Jerusalem, we have tens
of thousands of Arab workers. We must make a clear distinction." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
said "We should not discriminate against an entire public because of a
small minority that is violent and militant." Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz
said it is "sad that relations between Jews and Arabs will suffer
because of some Jihadist fanatical terrorists." He said that on the one
hand "one can understand the fear of parents of kindergarten children
afraid someone will take a knife one day, as happened in the synagogue
in Jerusalem, shout 'Allah Akhbar' and begin to attack." On the other
hand, he said, "this is something that should be handled while keeping
the generally good relations between Jews and Arabs."
In spite of the almost universal condemnation of Shimoni's plan by
Israeli politicians, a poll by Channel 10 showed that 58% of Israelis
support the discriminatory practice, 32% did not approve and 10% did not
know. At the end, the mayor changed his mind. Yehiel Lasri, mayor of nearby Ashdod, allegedly targeted Arab workers for extra security checks.
In the media
Some authors, such as David Hirsi and Ayala Emmet, have criticized the Israeli media for portraying Arabs negatively.
The Israeli media has been described as "racist" in its portrayals of
Israeli-Arabs and Palestinians by Israeli-Arab Nabilia Espanioly.
Education system
Jewish and Arab teachers at Hand in Hand, a network of bilingual schools that aims to promote coexistence between the Arab and Jewish populations of Israel
Israel is a signatory of the Convention against Discrimination in Education, and ratified it in 1961. The convention has the status of law in Israeli courts.
Israeli Pupils’ Rights Law of 2000 prohibits discrimination of students
for sectarian reasons in admission to or expulsion from educational
institutions, in establishment of separate educational curricula or
holding of separate classes in the same educational institution.
According to a 2001 report by Human Rights Watch,
Israel's school systems for Arab and Jewish children are separate and
have unequal conditions to the disadvantage of the Arab children who
make up one-quarter of all students. Israeli law does not prohibit
Palestinian Arab parents from enrolling their children in Jewish
schools, but in practice, very few Palestinian Arab parents do so.
The report stated that "Government-run Arab schools are a world apart
from government-run Jewish schools. In virtually every respect,
Palestinian Arab children get an education inferior to that of Jewish
children, and their relatively poor performance in school reflects
this." In 1999, in an attempt to close the gap between Arab and Jewish education sectors, the Education Minister of Israel announced an affirmative action
policy which promised that Arabs would be granted 25% of the education
budget, proportionally more funding than their 18% of the population,
and supported the creation of an Arab academic college.
A 2009 study from the Hebrew University
School of Education demonstrated that the Israeli Education Ministry's
budget for special assistance to students from low socioeconomic
backgrounds "severely" discriminated against Arabs. The study found that
because there were more needy Arab students, but fewer Arab students
overall, educationally needy Jewish students receive anywhere from 3.8
to 6.9 times as much funding as equally needy Arab students. The
Education Ministry said in response to the report that a decision has
already been made to abandon this allocation method.
The Follow-Up Committee for Arab Education notes that the Israeli
government spends an average of $192 per year on each Arab student
compared to $1,100 per Jewish student. The drop-out rate for Arab
citizens of Israel is twice as high as that of their Jewish counterparts
(12 percent versus 6 percent). The same group also notes that there is a
5,000-classroom shortage in the Arab sector.
A 2007 report of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
noted that separate sectors are maintained for Jewish and Arab
education. It recommended that Israel should assess the extent to which
maintenance of separate Arab and Jewish sectors "may amount to racial
segregation", and that mixed Arab-Jewish communities and schools, and
intercultural education should be promoted.
In a 2008 report, Israel responded that parents are entitled to enroll
their children in the educational institution of their choice, whether
the spoken language is Hebrew, Arabic or bilingual. It also noted that
Israel promotes a variety of programs that promote intercultural
cooperation, tolerance and understanding.
In Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, Nurit Peled-Elhanan, a professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
describes the depiction of Arabs in Israeli schoolbooks as racist. She
states that their only representation is as ‘refugees, primitive
farmers and terrorists’, claiming that in "hundreds and hundreds" of
books, not one photograph depicted an Arab as a "normal person". Arnon Groiss of the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace
criticized these findings. After reviewing the same books examined by
Peled-Ehanan, Groiss concluded that "Peled-Ehanan's claim regarding this
point is clearly false ... This heavily politicized and thus biased
approach distorts the material to produce a picture to her liking."
Groiss further criticized the work of Peled-Elhanan for stretching the
definition of racism to include cases that researchers would normally
categorize as ethnocentrism.
The Jewish National Fund is a private organization established in 1901 to buy and develop land in the Land of Israel for Jewish settlement; land purchases were funded by donations from world Jewry exclusively for that purpose.
Discrimination has been claimed regarding ownership and leasing
of land in Israel, because approximately 13% of Israel's land, owned by
the Jewish National Fund, is restricted to Jewish ownership and tenancy, and Arabs are prevented from buying or leasing that land.
In the early 2000s, several Community settlement in the Negev and the Galilee were accused of barring Arab applicants from moving in. In 2010, the Knesset
passed legislation that allowed admissions committees to function in
smaller communities in the Galilee and the Negev, while explicitly
forbidding committees to bar applicants based on the basis of race,
religion, sex, ethnicity, disability, personal status, age, parenthood,
sexual orientation, country of origin, political views, or political
affiliation.
Critics, however, say the law gives the privately run admissions
committees a wide latitude over public lands, and believe it will worsen
discrimination against the Arab minority.
Some critics of Israel equate Zionism with racism, or describe Zionism itself as racist or discriminatory. In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 3379, which concluded that "Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination". During debate on the resolution, U.S. ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan
argued that Zionism "clearly is not a form of racism", defining racism
as "an ideology ... which favors discrimination on the grounds of
alleged biological differences".
Some critics have described the Law of Return, which allows all Jews and persons of some Jewish descent to immigrate to Israel as racist, as Palestinian refugees are not eligible for citizenship. Palestinians and advocates for Palestinian refugee rights criticize the Law of Return, which they compare to the Palestinian claim to a right of return.
These critics consider the Law, as contrasted against the denial of the
right of Palestinian refugees to return, as offensive and as
institutionalized ethnic discrimination.
Supporters of the Law argue that it is consistent with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
Article I(3) which allows for preferential treatments of some groups
for purpose of immigration, provided there is no discrimination against a
specific nationality.
In addition, proponents of the law point out that in addition to
Israel, several other countries provide immigration privileges to
individuals with ethnic ties to these countries. Examples include Germany, Serbia, Greece, Japan, Turkey, Ireland, Russia, Italy, Spain, Chile, Poland and Finland (See Right of return and Repatriation laws.) Some supporters noted that the decision by the Venice Commission
recognized the relationship between
ethnic minorities and their kin-states as legitimate and even desirable,
and preference in immigration and naturalization is mentioned as an
example of legitimate preference.
In response to Arab criticism of Israel's Law of Return as
discriminatory in a 1975 United Nations resolution debate, Israelis
argued that Palestinian Israelis were not subject to any legal
discrimination.
Proposed oath of allegiance
In 2010, the Israeli cabinet proposed an amendment to the Citizenship Act requiring all future non-Jews applying for Israeli citizenship to swear loyalty to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
The proposal met harsh criticism, including accusations of racism, and
subsequently it was amended to make the loyalty oath universal to both
Jewish and non-Jewish naturalized citizens. Even in this new form, the bill did not pass due to lack of majority support in the Israeli parliament.
Marriage
Israel's Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law bars immigration by family reunification to couples of an Israeli citizen and a Palestinian resident of the Israeli-occupied territories. Amnesty International says this mostly affects Arabs. The law has been condemned by Amnesty International as "racial discrimination". The government says the law say it is aimed at preventing terrorist attacks. Some leaders of the Kadima party support the law in order to preserve the state's Jewish character. Mishael Cheshin,
one of the supreme court judges who upheld the law, wrote that "at a
time of war the state could prevent the entry of enemy subjects to its
territory even if they were married to citizens of the state".
Religious racism
Rabbi David Batzri and his son Yitzhak were investigated by police
after they made racist remarks against Arabs and protested against a
mixed Arab-Jewish school in Jerusalem. As part of a 2008 plea bargain, Yitzhak was sentenced to community
service, and David issued a declaration saying he was opposed to any
racist incitement and said that he calls for love, brotherhood and
friendship.
Dov Lior, Chief Rabbi of Hebron and Kiryat Arba in the southern West Bank and head of the "Council of Rabbis of Judea and Samaria" issued a religious edict saying "a thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew's fingernail" and stated that captured Arab terrorists could be used to conduct medical experiments, and also ruled that Jewish Law forbids employing Arabs or renting homes to them. Lior denied holding racist views. In June 2011, the Rabbi was arrested by Israeli police and questioned on suspicion of inciting violence. Both opposition leader Tzipi Livni and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a full judicial investigation of Lior's remarks and said that rabbis were not above the law.
In October 2010, Ovadia Yosef, a former Sephardichief rabbi, stated that the sole purpose of non-Jews "is to serve Jews". His statement was harshly condemned by several Jewish organizations.
On 7 Dec 2010, a group of 50 state-paid rabbis signed a letter
instructing Orthodox Jews not to rent or sell houses to non-Jews. The
letter was later endorsed by some 250 other Jewish religious figures. A
hotline was opened for denouncing those Jews who did intend to rent out
to Arabs.
On 19 Dec 2010, a rally attended by 200 people was held in Bat Yam against the "assimilation" of young Jewish women with Arabs. One of the organizers, "Bentzi" Ben-Zion Gopstein,
said that the motives are not racist: "It is important to explain that
the problem is religious, not racist. If my son were to decide to marry
an Arab woman who converted, I wouldn't have a problem with that. My
problem is the assimilation that the phenomenon causes." One of the
protestors called out, "Any Jewish woman who goes with an Arab should be
killed; any Jew who sells his home to an Arab should be killed." Bat
Yam Mayor Shlomo Lahyani
condemned the event, saying "The city of Bat Yam denounces any racist
phenomenon. This is a democratic country,". Nearby, about 200 residents
of Bat Yam held a counter protest, waving signs reading, "We're fed up
with racists" and "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies". Later that
month, the wives of 27 rabbis signed a letter calling on Jewish girls to
stay away from Arab men. The document stated: "Don't date them, don't
work where they work and don't perform National Service with them."
A senior Catholic spokesman, Fr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Custodian of the Holy Land,
has claimed that a lack of police action, and an educational culture in
which Jewish pupils are encouraged to act with "contempt" towards
Christians, has resulted in life becoming increasingly "intolerable" for
many Christians. In 2012, pro-settler extremists attacked a Trappist
monastery in the town of Latroun covering walls with anti-Christian
graffiti denouncing Christ as a "monkey", and the 11th century Monastery of the Cross was daubed with offensive slogans such as "Death to Christians". According to an article in The Daily Telegraph,
Christian leaders feel that the most important issue that Israel has
failed to address is the practice of some ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools
to teach children that it is a religious obligation to abuse anyone in
Holy Orders they encounter in public, "such that Ultra-Orthodox Jews,
including children as young as eight, spit at members of the clergy on a
daily basis." Incidents of spitting on Christian clergymen in Jerusalem have been common since the 1990s.
Ruling on the case of a Greek Orthodox priest who had struck a yeshiva
student who spat near him in 2011, a Jerusalem magistrate wrote, "Day
after day, clergymen endure spitting by members of those fringe groups —
a phenomenon intended to treat other religions with contempt. ... The
authorities are not able to eradicate this phenomenon and they don't
catch the spitters, even though this phenomenon has been going on for
years."
Incidents
Baruch
Goldstein's tomb. The plaque reads "To the holy Baruch Goldstein, who
gave his life for the Jewish people, the Torah and the nation of
Israel."
In 1994, a Jewish settler in the West Bank and follower of the Kach party, Baruch Goldstein, massacred 29 Palestinian Muslim worshipers at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. During his funeral, a rabbi declared that even one million Arabs are "not worth a Jewish fingernail". Goldstein was denounced by most religious streams including the mainstream Orthodox", and many in Israel classified Goldstein as insane. The Israeli government condemned the massacre and made Kach illegal. The Israeli army killed a further nine Palestinians during riots following the massacre, and the Israeli government severely restricted Palestinian freedom of movement in Hebron, while letting settlers roam free.
Although Israel also forbade a very small number (18) of Israeli
settlers from entering Palestinian towns and demanded that those
settlers turn in their army-issued rifles, it denied the PLO's request
that all settlers be disarmed and that an international force be
established to protect Palestinians from Israeli aggressors. Goldstein's grave has become a pilgrimage site for Jewish extremists. Current Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir is known to have had a portrait of Goldstein hanging in his living room as homage.
Graffiti reading "Die Arab Sand-Niggers!" reportedly sprayed by settlers on a house in HebronGraffiti reading "Gas the Arabs! JDL" reportedly sprayed by settlers on the Qurtuba girls' school in Hebron
In 2006, a stabbing incident took place when a gang of Russian immigrants chanting racist slogans stabbed and lightly injured Arab Knesset member Abbas Zakour, which was part of a "stabbing rampage" and was described as a "hate crime".
The Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel reported a tenfold increase in racist incidents against Arabs in 2008. Jerusalem reported the highest number of racist incidents against Arabs.
The report blamed Israeli leaders for the violence, saying "These
attacks are not the hand of fate, but a direct result of incitement
against the Arab citizens of this country by religious, public, and
elected officials."
The Bedouin claim they face systemic discrimination and have submitted a counter-report to the United Nations that disputes the Israeli government's official state report.
They claim they are not treated as equal citizens in Israel and that
Bedouin towns are not provided the same level of services or land that
Jewish towns of the same size are, and that they are not given fair
access to water. The city of Beersheba refused to recognize a Bedouin holy site, despite a High Court recommendation.
In late 2010, the number of racist incidents against Arabs
increased. The events were described by the Defense Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak, as a "wave of racism".
The most notable ones took place on 20 December 2010, when a group of
five Arabs were driven from an apartment in Tel Aviv after their
landlady was threatened with the torching of her home if she continued
to rent out to Arabs,
and on 21 December 2010, when a gang of Jewish youths was arrested in
Jerusalem after carrying out a large number of attacks on Arabs. A girl
aged 14 would lure Arab men to the Independence Park, where they were
attacked with stones and bottles and severely beaten. The teens
confessed to nationalistic motives.
On 31 Oct 2010, a Jewish mob gathered outside of an Arab students'
residence in Safed, chanted "death to the Arabs", hurled rocks and
bottles at the building, shattering glass, and fired a shot at the
building before dissassembling.
In May 2011, two Israeli border patrolmen were charged with
physical abuse against an Arab minor who was carrying firecrackers. The
incident took place in March 2010. The youth was punched, knocked to the
floor, kicked, and had death threats thrown against him by the
officers. At a police station, the 17-year-old male was tricked by a
female police officer into believing he was going to die. After making
the prisoner go down on his knees, she allegedly pointed her pistol at
him at point-blank range. It was not loaded, but the minor did not know
this because his eyes were covered. According to the charges, she
counted to 10, with the teen begging her not to kill him. She allegedly
pulled the trigger, saying "Death to Arabs".
She was later sentenced to 3 months in prison.
In March 2012, two Arab males of Beit Zarzir confessed, after
being arrested, to damaging a local school for Arab and Jewish students.
They admitted responsibility for having sprayed on the wall of the
school, "Death to Arabs". The school was sprayed twice in February with
the slogans "price tag", "Death to Arabs", and "Holocaust to the Arabs".
On 18 November 2013, Jewish settlers torched trucks and
spray-painted walls in a Palestinian village. Two perpetrators, Yehuda
Landsberg and Yehuda Sabir, admitted their guilt and received the
minimum sentence. Binyamin Richter, a third defendant, claimed
innocence. They are from Havat Gilad.
This was the first time that any indictments were issued against the 52
Jewish Israelis who had committed anti-Arab attacks that were
completely unprovoked, which the Israeli security forces differentiate
from "price tag" attacks.
After the murder of 3 Israeli teenagers were found
on 30 June 2014, a Facebook Page created by an unknown group of
Israelis called "The People of Israel Demand Vengeance!" or "The people
of Israel demand revenge!" The page features a myriad of photos of
people holding up signs demanding revenge for the killing of the teens,
and urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
to order widespread military action in the West Bank and Gaza. Further
racist incitement within the Facebook campaign depicted a photograph
that was posted to the page with two teenage girls smiling, hugging each
other and holding a piece of paper saying, "Hating Arabs is not racism,
it's values." Another post showed an armed IDF soldier with "Revenge!"
in Hebrew inscribed on his chest. The Facebook Campaign received more
than 30,000 likes by the evening of 3 July 2014. The campaign has been
condemned by a number of Israeli MK's including Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Minister of Agriculture and Yisrael Beiteinu MK Yair Shamir.
The Israeli Defense Forces also vowed to severely punish any soldier
involved with the exchange of racist photographs depicting revenge for
the murdered teens or retributive incitement of Anti-Arabism across Facebook and other social media sites.
Also in November 2014, a Druze soldier, veteran of Operation Protective Edge,
was refused entry to a pub where his Jewish friends were. A security
guard told him that he was not allowed to let non-Jews enter. While the
owner claimed it was a private club, the Jewish patron denied this
claim, noting they were allowed to enter without membership. A friend of
the Druse IDF soldier said "Apparently, they are good enough to fight
in Gaza but not to enter a pub."
On 21 November 2014, during a Tel Aviv soccer match, hundreds of
Bnei Yehuda fans rose and chanted, "Death to Arabs!" The fans threw
trash at an Arab player who was injured and was being taken off the
field.
On 29 November 2014, an apparent hate crime including arson and
racist graffiti was perpetrated in Jerusalem on a dual Hebrew and Arabic
language school. Graffiti spray painted at the school included, "Death
to Arabs!", "Kahane was right!", "Down with assimilation!" and "There is
no co-existence with cancer!" Police say the fire was set on purpose.
Education Minister Shai Piron
spoke out against the vandalism, saying it represented a "violent,
criminal and despicable act done to undermine the foundations of Israeli
democracy."
Mohamad Marzouk, head of communications for the Hand in Hand school in
Kfar Qara, noted that the attack brought out a show of community support
for the school. In the minds of many people the arson, he said,
"crossed a red line." The Israeli police arrested a number of suspects in connection with this arson attack.
Following the arrest, the mother of one of the suspects said she would
have burned the school as well, if it were not illegal to do so, and she
expressed disgust and revulsion that Jews and Arabs studied together at
the school. In courtroom photos the three members of the radical group are shown smiling and smirking as they faced charges. On 30 November, a synagogue in Tel Aviv had several books burned and was vandalized with graffiti against the Jewish nation-state bill, which most recently, had been submitted the previous week.
The Times of Israel reported on 1 January 2015 that three Jewish
men who had admitted to committing racist hate crimes against an Arab
taxi driver in early 2014 were each sentenced to approximately one year
in prison. The criminals admitted they had hailed the cab, then began
beating and insulting the cab driver. When the driver escaped the car
and ran for help, the perpetrators smashed the taxi sunroof.
Racism in sports
The first racist incidents in Israeli soccer took place in the 1970s, when Rifaat Turk joined Hapoel Tel Aviv, and was subjected to anti-Arab taunts. Under Israeli law, soccer fans can be prosecuted for incitement of racial hatred.
Racism in soccer stadiums is a worldwide problem, and Israeli stadiums are not free from racism. The first racist incidents took place in the 1970s, when the Arab player Rifaat Turk joined Hapoel Tel Aviv. Turk was subjected to anti-Arab abuse during nearly every game he played. Arab soccer player Abbas Suan was confronted once with a sign reading "Abbas Suan, you don't represent us".
Under Israeli law, soccer fans can be prosecuted for incitement of
racial hatred. The "New Voices from the Stadium" program, run by the New Israel Fund
(NIF) amasses a "racism index" that is reported to the media on a
weekly basis, and teams have been fined and punished for the conduct of
their fans. According to Steve Rothman,
the NIF San Francisco director, "Things have definitely improved,
particularly in sensitizing people to the existence of racism in Israeli
society." In 2006, Israel joined Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), network set up to counter racism in soccer.
After a soccer game in March 2012, in which Beitar Jerusalem defeated a rival team at Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium, a group of at least a hundred Beitar fans
entered the nearby Malha Mall chanting racist slogans and allegedly
attacked Arab cleaning workers, whom some reports described as
Palestinians. The police were criticized for initially failing to make
arrests;
it later investigated the incident, issuing restraining orders against
20 soccer fans and questioning several suspects among the cleaning crew
seen waving sticks at the fans.
Intra-Jewish racism
Ashkenazi Jews
in Israel have been described as viewing themselves as superior to
non-Ashkenazi Jews. They are accused of maintaining an elite position in
Israeli society, with some describing the attitudes of Ashkenazim as racist or of being a manifestation of racism.
Other authorities describe the discrimination by Ashkenazi as class-based, not race-based.
For example, the differences between Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews (N.
Africans, Middle Easterners, Yemenites, etc.) are referred to as Adatiyut community-differences (resulting also in some traditional customary gaps).
Some sources claim that reports of intra-Jewish discrimination in
Israel arise from propaganda published by Arab sources which ignores
the normality and harmony between the communities.
Sephardim and Mizrahim (Middle Eastern and North African Jews)
Israeli society in general – and Ashkenazi Jews in particular – have
been described as holding discriminatory attitudes towards Jews of
Middle Eastern and North African descent, known as Mizrahi Jews, Sephardic Jews, and Oriental Jews. A variety of Mizrahi critics of Israeli policy have cited "past ill-treatment, including the maabarot,
the squalid tent cities into which Mizrahim were placed upon arrival in
Israel; the humiliation of Moroccan and other Mizrahi Jews when Israeli
immigration authorities shaved their heads and sprayed their bodies
with the pesticide DDT; the socialist elite's enforced secularization;
the destruction of traditional family structure, and the reduced status
of the patriarch by years of poverty and sporadic unemployment" as
examples of mistreatment. In September 1997, Israeli Labor Party leader Ehud Barak made a high-profile apology to Oriental Jews in Netivot stating:
We must admit to ourselves [that]
the inner fabric of communal life was torn. Indeed, sometimes the
intimate fabric of family life was torn. Much suffering was inflicted on
the immigrants and that suffering was etched in their hearts, as well
as in the hearts of their children and grandchildren. There was no
malice on the part of those bringing the immigrants here—on the
contrary, there was much goodwill—but pain was inflicted nevertheless.
In acknowledgement of this suffering and pain, and out of identification
with the sufferers and their descendants, I hereby ask forgiveness in
my own name and in the name of the historical Labor movement.
Barak's address also said that during the 1950s, Mizrahi immigrants
were "made to feel that their own traditions were inferior to those of
the dominant Ashkenazi [European-origin] Israelis [Alex Weingrod's paraphrase]". Several prominent Labor party figures, including Teddy Kollek and Shimon Peres, distanced themselves from the apology while agreeing that mistakes were made during the immigration period.
The cultural differences between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews
impacted the degree and rate of assimilation into Israeli society, and
sometimes the divide between Eastern European and Middle Eastern Jews
was quite sharp. Segregation, especially in the area of housing, limited
integration possibilities over the years.
Intermarriage between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim is increasingly common in
Israel, and by the late 1990s 28% of all Israeli children had
multi-ethnic parents (up from 14% in the 1950s). A 1983 research found that children of inter-ethnic marriages in Israel enjoyed improved socio-economic status.
Although social integration is constantly improving, disparities
persist. A study conducted by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics
(ICBS), Mizrahi Jews are less likely to pursue academic studies than
Ashkenazi Jews. Israeli-born Ashkenazi are up to twice more likely to
study in a university than Israeli-born Mizrahim.
Furthermore, the percentage of Mizrahim who seek a university education
remains low compared to second-generation immigrant groups of Ashkenazi
origin, such as Russians. According to a survey by the Adva Center, the average income of Ashkenazim was 36 percent higher than that of Mizrahim in 2004.
Some claim that the education system discriminates against Jewish
minorities from North Africa and the Middle East, and one source
suggests that "ethnic prejudice against Mizrahi Jews is a relatively
general phenomenon, not limited to the schooling process".
There was a case in 2010, when a Haredi school system, where Sephardi and Mizrahi students were sometimes excluded or segregated. In 2010, the Israeli supreme court sent a strong message against discrimination in a case involving the Slonim Hassidic sect of the Ashkenazi, ruling that segregation between Ashkenazi and Sephardi students in a school is illegal. They argue that they seek "to maintain an equal level of religiosity, not from racism". Responding to the charges, the Slonim Haredim
invited Sephardi girls to school, and added in a statement: "All along,
we said it's not about race, but the High Court went out against our
rabbis, and therefore we went to prison."
In 2023, journalist Shany Littman believes that the dynamics of
inequality have reversed, with most Mizrahi Jews being cabinet ministers
and mayors and middle-class Mizrahi women earning more than their
Ashkenazi counterparts.
In the 1950s, 1,033
children of Yemenite immigrant families disappeared. In most instances,
the parents claim that they were told their children were ill and
required hospitalization. Upon later visiting the hospital, it is
claimed that the parents were told that their children had died though
no bodies were presented or graves which have later proven to be empty
in many cases were shown to the parents. Those who believe the theory
contend that the Israeli government as well as other organizations in
Israel kidnapped the children and gave them for adoption. Secular
Israeli Jews of European descent were accused of collaborating in the
disappearance of babies of Yemeni Jews and anti-religious motives and
anti-religious coercion were alleged. Some went further to accuse the Israeli authorities of conspiring to kidnap the Yemeni children due to "racist" motives.
In 2001 a seven-year public inquiry commission concluded that the
accusations that Yemenite children were kidnapped are not true. The
commission has unequivocally rejected claims of a plot to take children
away from Yemenite immigrants. The report determined that documentation
exists for 972 of the 1,033 missing children. Five additional missing
babies were found to be alive. The commission was unable to discover
what happened in another 56 cases. With regard to these unresolved 56
cases, the commission deemed it "possible" that the children were handed
over for adoption following decisions made by individual local social
workers, but not as part of an official policy.
Bene Israel (Indian Jews)
In 1962, authorities in Israel were accused by articles in the Indian
press of racism in relation to Jews of Indian ancestry (called Bene Israel).
In the case that caused the controversy, the Chief Rabbi of Israel
ruled that before registering a marriage between Indian Jews and Jews
not belonging to that community, the registering rabbi should
investigate the lineage of the Indian applicant for possible non-Jewish
descent, and in case of doubt, require the applicant to perform
conversion or immersion. The alleged discrimination may actually be related to the fact that some religious authorities believe that the Bene Israel are not fully Jewish because of inter-marriage during their long separation.
In 1964 the government of Israel led by Levi Eshkol declared that it regards Bene Israel of India as Jews without exception, who are equal to other Jews in respect of all matters.
Nearly all of the Ethiopian Beta Israel
community, a community of Black Jews, resides in Israel. The Israeli
government has mounted rescue operations, most notably during Operation Moses (1984) and Operation Solomon (1991), for their migration when civil war and famine threatened populations within Ethiopia. Today 81,000 Israelis were born in Ethiopia, while 38,500 or 32% of the community are native born Israelis.
According to the sociologist Prof. Uzi Rebhun, it represents an ambitious attempt to deny the significance of race.
Israeli authorities, aware of the situation of most African diaspora
communities in other Western countries, hosted programs to avoid setting
in patterns of discrimination.
The Ethiopian Jewish community's internal challenges have been
complicated by racist attitudes on the part of some elements of Israeli
society and the official establishment.
Racism has commonly been cited as explanation for policies and programs
that failed to meet expectations. Racism was alleged regarding delays
in admitting Ethiopian Jews to Israel under the Law of Return.
The delays in admitting Ethiopians may be attributed to religious
motivations rather than racism, since there was debate whether or not
Falasha Jews' (Beta Israel) were Jewish.
Racism was also alleged in 2009, in a case where school children
of Ethiopian ancestry were denied admission into three semi-private
religious schools in the town of Petah Tikva.
An Israeli government official criticised the Petah Tikva Municipality
and the semi-private Haredi schools, saying "This concerns not only the
three schools that have, for a long time, been deceiving the entire
educational system. For years, racism has developed here undeterred". Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef
threatened to fire any school principal from Shas's school system who
refused to receive Ethiopian students. The Israeli Education Ministry
decided to pull the funding from the Lamerhav, Da'at Mevinim and Darkhei
Noam schools, the three semi-private institutions that refused to
accept the students. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke out against the rejection of Ethiopian children, calling it "a moral terror attack."
When Ethiopians protested that blood donations from their community were thrown out, Harry Wall, the Israeli Director of the Anti-Defamation League
stated that it was the result of the high incidence of HIV in Africans,
not racism: "Whatever Israel's mistakes towards its Ethiopian Jewish
community, the cause is not racism." It explains that "what causes the
distress is bureaucratic ineptitude and a cultural gap between a
traditional community and a modern, technologically-advanced,
highly-competitive nation."
In 2012, Israel appointed the country's first Ethiopian-born ambassador, Belaynesh Zevadia. According to the foreign minister of Israel, this represented an important milestone in fighting racism and prejudice.
Depo Provera prescription controversy
In 2010, Israel was accused of a "sterilization policy" aimed towards
Ethiopian Jews, for allowing the prescription of contraceptive drugs
like Depo-Provera to the community. They stated that the Israeli government deliberately gives female Ethiopian Jews long-lasting contraceptive drugs like Depo-Provera.
Jewish agencies involved in immigration said that Ethiopian women were
offered different types of contraceptives and that "all of them
participated voluntarily in family planning". Dr. Yifat Bitton,
a member of the Israeli Anti-Discrimination Legal Center "Tmura" said
that 60 percent of the women receiving this contraceptive are Ethiopian
Jews, while Ethiopians made up only 1 percent of population and "the gap
here is just impossible to reconcile in any logical manner that would
somehow resist the claims of racism".
Professor Zvi Bentwich, an immunologist and human rights activist from
Tel-Aviv, rejected the claim and said there's no ground to suspect a
negative official policy towards Ethiopian Jews.
Israel initially denied the claim of injecting Ethiopian women
with Depo-Provera without their informed consent, but later issued an
order for gynecologists to stop administering the drugs for women of
Ethiopian origin if there is concern that they might not understand the
ramifications of the treatment.
Action on the issue finally took place after a documentary aired in
December 2012 on public television. In it, 35 Ethiopian women who had
immigrated to Israel said they had been told they would not be allowed
into Israel unless they agreed to the shots. While Ethiopians have been
admitted to Israel, they are often discriminated against in education
and in employment. The Times of Israel notes details of a nurse,
unaware of a hidden camera, saying Depo-Provera is given to Ethiopian
women because "they forget, they don't understand, and it's hard to
explain to them, so it's best that they receive a shot once every three
months ... basically they don't understand anything."
Police brutality
In April 2015 an Ethiopian soldier in the IDF was the victim of an
unprovoked and allegedly racist attack by an Israeli policeman and the
attack was caught on video. The soldier, Damas Pakedeh, was arrested and
accused of attacking the policeman. He believes the incident was
racially motivated and that if the video had not been taken, he would
have been punished. Likud MK Avraham Neguise called on National Police Chief Yohanan Danino
to prosecute the police officer and volunteer, saying they engaged in
"a gross violation of the basic law of respecting others and their
liberty by those who are supposed to protect us". The Jerusalem Post
notes that in 2015 "there have been a series of reports in the Israeli
press about alleged acts of police brutality
against Ethiopian Israelis, with many in the community saying they are
unfairly targeted and treated more harshly than other citizens". The incident of police brutality with Pakedeh and alleged brutality of officials from Israel's Administration of Border Crossings, Population and Immigration
with Walla Bayach, an Israeli of Ethiopian descent, brought the
Ethiopian community to protest. Hundreds of Ethiopians participated in
protests the streets of Jerusalem on 20 April 2015, to decry what they
view as "rampant racism" and violence in Israel directed at their
community. Israel Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino
met with representatives of the Israeli Ethiopian community that day
following the recent violent incidents involving police officers and
members of the community. When over a thousand people protested police brutality against Ethiopians and dark skinned Israelis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced: "I strongly condemn the beating of the Ethiopian IDF soldier, and those responsible will be held accountable." Following protests and demonstrations in Tel Aviv
that resulted in violence, Netanyahu planned to meet with
representatives of the Ethiopian community, including Pakedeh. Netanyahu
said the meeting would include Danino and representatives of several
ministries, including Immigrant Absorption. Danino already announced
that the officer who beat Pakedeh had been fired.
Racism against Israeli Jews by Israeli Arabs
Polls
A 2009 PEW
poll, which included 527 Israeli Arab respondents, showed that 35% of
Israeli Arabs said their opinion of Jews was unfavorable, while 56% said
their opinion was favorable (the figures amongst Israeli Jews on their
attitude of themselves were 94% favorable; 6% unfavorable).
The 2008 Index of Arab-Jewish Relations in Israel by the Jewish-Arab Center found that 40.5% of the Arab citizens of Israel denied the Holocaust, up from 28% in 2006.
This report also states that "In Arab eyes disbelief in the very
happening of the Shoah is not hate of Jews (embedded in the denial of
the Shoah in the West) but rather a form of protest. Arabs not believing
in the event of Shoah intend to express strong objection to the
portrayal of the Jews as the ultimate victim and to the underrating of
the Palestinians as a victim. They deny Israel's right to exist as a
Jewish state that the Shoah gives legitimacy to."
Incidents
Numerous racist attacks against Jews have taken place throughout Arab localities in the Galilee and in Arab areas of Jerusalem,
including murders. Among the people killed in such attacks was Kristine
Luken, an American tourist stabbed in a forest near Jerusalem after
being seen wearing a Star of David necklace. In Jerusalem, Jews driving through Al-Issawiya have been subjected to ambushes by crowds, as was a repairman who had been hired by a resident. Emergency services vehicles have also been attacked while passing through the neighborhood. Jews who travel to the Mount of Olives also risk violence.
Jews who enter or buy property in Arab areas face harassment, and Arabs
who have sold property to Jews have been murdered. In 2010, an
Israeli-Jewish security guard, Kochav Segal Halevi, was forced from his
home in the Arab town of I'billin after a racist crowd gathered at his house, and he received death threats.
In 2008, the slogan "Death to the Jews" was found spray-painted in Arabic on the cargo hold of an El Al plane.
In 2010, the wall of a synagogue and a Jewish residence in the mixed Jewish-Arab Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa were spray-painted with swastikas and Palestinian flags.
Raed Salah, the head of the Islamic movement in Israel, was prosecuted in 2010 for incitement to racism.
Journalist Ben-Meir described Arab Knesset members who "talk
incessantly about the Palestinian people's rights, including their own
state" but who "refuse to acknowledge Israel as the state of the Jewish
people and deny the very existence of a Jewish people as a nation with
national rights" as racist. Ariel Natan Pasko, a policy analyst, suggested that prominent Arab leaders such as Arab member of Knesset Ahmad Tibi
is racist because he "turned away from integration" and "wants to build
an Arab university in Nazareth, as well as an Arab hospital in the
Galilee."
Tibi had been previously accused of racism: in 1997, he said "whoever
sells his house to the Jews has sold his soul to Satan and done a
despicable act".
The head of the Islamic
movement in Israel's Northern Branch, was charged with incitement to
racism and to violence. During legal proceedings, the prosecution said
that Sheikh Raed Salah made his inflammatory remarks "with the objective of inciting racism." he also accused Jews of using children's blood to bake bread.
Other groups
Black Hebrew Israelites
A child of the Black Hebrew Israelite community, in Dimona, September 2005
Black Hebrew Israelites are groups of people mostly of African American ancestry who believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelites. They are generally not accepted as Jews by the greater Jewish community. Many choose to self-identify as Hebrew Israelites or Black Hebrews rather than as Jews.
When the first Black Hebrews arrived in Israel in 1969, they claimed citizenship under the Law of Return, which gives eligible Jews immediate citizenship.
The Israeli government ruled in 1973 that the group did not qualify for
automatic citizenship, and the Black Hebrews were denied work permits and state benefits. The group responded by accusing the Israeli government of racist discrimination.
In 1981, a group of American civil rights activist led by Bayard Rustin investigated and concluded that racism was not the cause of Black Hebrews' situation.
In 1990, Illinois legislators helped negotiate an agreement that
resolved the Black Hebrews' legal status in Israel. Members of the group
are permitted to work and have access to housing and social services.
In 2003, the agreement was revised, and the Black Hebrews were granted permanent resident status.
In his 1992 essay "Blacks and Jews: The Uncivil War", historian Taylor Branch
wrote that Black Hebrews were initially denied citizenship due to
anti-black sentiment among Israeli Jews (according to mainstream Jewish
religious authorities, members of the Black Hebrew Israelite group are
not Jewish).
According to historian Dr. Seth Forman, the claims that the Black
Hebrew Israelites were denied citizenship because they were black seem
baseless, particularly in light of Israel's airlift of thousands of
black Ethiopian Jews in the early 1990s.
Racism against Black African non-Jews
In April 2012, the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet
reported that tens of thousands of refugees and African migrant workers
who have come to Israel in dangerous smuggling routes, live in southern
Tel Aviv's Levinsky Park. SvD reported that some Africans in the park
sleep on cardboard boxes under the stars, others crowd in dark hovels.
Also was noted a situation with African refugees, such as Sudanese from
Darfur, Eritreans, Ethiopians and other African nationalities, who stand
in queue to the soup kitchen, organized by Israeli volunteers. The
interior minister reportedly "wants everyone to be deported".
In May 2012, disgruntlement toward Africans and calls for
deportation and "blacks out" in Tel Aviv boiled over into death threats,
fire bombings, rioting, and property destruction. Protesters blamed
immigrants for worsening crime and the local economy, some of protesters
were seen throwing eggs at African immigrants.
In March 2018, chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel, Yitzhak Yosef, used the term Kushi
to refer to black people, which has Talmudic origins but is a
derogatory word for people of African descent in modern Hebrew. He also
reportedly likened black people to monkeys.
Inter-ethnic relations
Arab-Jewish riots
Monument to Israeli Arab casualties in October 2000 riots, Nazareth
In what became known as the October 2000 events, Arab-Israelis rioted while protesting Israeli actions in the early stages of the Second Intifada,
attacking Jewish civilians and Israeli police with live gunfire,
molotov cocktails, stones, and vandalism of Jewish property. One Egged bus was torched on the first day. Arab rioting took place in Umm al-Fahm, Baqa al-Gharbiyye, Sakhnin, Nazareth, Lod, Kafar Kanna, Mashhad, Arraba, Ramla, Or Akiva and Nazareth Illit. A Jewish citizen was killed when his car was stoned, and a synagogue was torched. Hundreds of Arab residents of Jaffa burned tires, threw rocks, and beat reporters.
Throughout the course of the riots, Israeli Police repeatedly opened
fire at Arab riots and demonstrations, killing 13 people, including 12
Arab-Israelis and one Palestinian from Gaza.
Sam Lehman-Wilzig, Political Communications Professor at Bar-Ilan
University, said that rioting is rare and alien to Jewish political
society. "The numbers (of riots) are so low because of our Jewish
political culture which encourages protesting, but seriously discourages
violent protest," he said. He argues that the riots were caused since
Israelis felt threatened by the "pressure cooker syndrome" of fighting
not just the Palestinians and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, but also
the Israeli Arab population.
In 2008, a series of riots broke out in Acre, after an Arab motorist and his teenage son drove into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood during Yom Kippur,
the holiest day in the Jewish religion, to visit relatives. According
to police, their car's windows were down and music was blaring. Police
spokesperson Eran Shaked said that "this was a provocation... we believe
he was intoxicated. This was a deliberate act".
An incorrect rumor spread among the Arab residents that the driver had
been killed, prompting calls from local mosques to avenge his death. Arabs rioted in the city center, smashing shop windows, vandalizing vehicles, and throwing rocks at people going to or from Yom Kippur prayers,
chanting "Death to the Jews" and "If you come out of your homes, you
will die". Israeli Police forcibly dispersed the rioters with tear gas
and stun grenades. As soon as the Yom Kippur fast ended, about 200
Jewish residents rioted in Acre's Arab neighborhoods, torching homes,
vandalizing property, and forcing dozens of families to flee. Riots and
retaliations by both sides continued for four days.
During the course of monitoring elections in 2009, a Member of
the Knesset (MK) replaced another Jewish election monitor at the
Israeli-Arab town of Umm al-Fahm,
who was prevented by police from entering the city because of threats
by local Arabs on his life. As soon as the MK began to perform his
duties, an Israeli-Arab mob rioted outside attacking the guards and
shouts of "Death to the Jews" could be heard. Israeli Police arrested
five rioters.
Efforts against racism and discrimination
Israel has a law that prohibits incitement to racism.
Israeli protest in Pardes Hana against racism, 2010. The sign reads "No to racism".
According to the State Department,
Israel's anti-discrimination law "prohibits discrimination on the basis
of sex, marital status, or sexual orientation. The law also prohibits
discrimination by both government and nongovernment entities on the
basis of race, religion, political beliefs, and age."
In response to inequality between the Jewish and Arab populations,
the Israeli government established a committee to consider, among other
issues, policies of affirmative action for housing Arab citizens. According to Israel advocacy group Stand With Us, the city of Jerusalem
gives Arab residents free professional advice to assist with the
housing permit process and structural regulations, advice which is not
available to Jewish residents on the same terms.
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