Not All Israeli Citizens Are Equal

lazelon · 2 days

Not All Israeli Citizens Are Equal

The article's title makes a bold accusation, yet the article's body does little to substantiate that accusation.

I’M a Palestinian who was born in the Israeli town of Lod, and thus I am an Israeli citizen. My wife is not; she is a Palestinian from Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank....

If we plan a trip together — an enjoyable task for most couples — we must prepare for a logistical nightmare that reminds us of our profound inequality before the law at every turn.

It's true that the author's wife isn't treated as an equal citizen before the law. That's because she's not actually a citizen at all, as the author himself admits.

Today, a Jew from any country can move to Israel, while a Palestinian refugee, with a valid claim to property in Israel, cannot.

It's true that a non-citizen Palestinian don't have access to the same naturalization track as a non-citizen Jew. That's because neither of them are currently citizens. Countries have no obligation to give all non-citizens access to the same naturalization track, and Israel is hardly alone in doing otherwise.

And although Palestinians make up about 20 percent of Israel’s population, the 2012 budget allocates less than 7 percent for Palestinian citizens.

It's true that Israel's Palestinians citizens receive a smaller share of the government budget per capita than Jewish citizens, but it's also true that they have considerably lower voter turnout. Similarly, U.S. government per capita spending on young adults is a fraction of per capita spending on the elderly, not least because American politicians are much less afraid of pissing off my age group (which can hardly be bothered to vote) than they are of old people (who have little else to do with their time). That's how democracy works: your vote is your voice. It certainly doesn't help that the Arab MKs who do get elected don't even try to participate in the give-and-take of coalition politics which other sectarian minority (read: Haredi) parties have been able to leverage to their constituents' material advantage.

Kaffir · 5 days

Don't worry, I'm sure this was just another mistranslation.

BoiledGizzard · 1 month

Capital flight. Currency collapse. That sort of thing.

ServerGeek · 1 month

I remember another president not so long ago who egged on his country's opponents with challenges. It didn't work out too well.

ph-x- · 1 month

The Bush administration, and by extension those who voted them in, were neurotic.

DooDooRoggins · 2 months

If the president's name is Goodluck, then why not?

joeyayoub · 2 months

For the first time, I'm actually considering a donation to Wikipedia.

TheGhostOfNoLibs · 2 months

“Two words: Jericho missiles,” said one former White House and Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, when asked how Israel would attack Iranian targets at great distances.

Holy shit, Tony Stark is working for Israel.

DrJulianBashir · 2 months

Iraq in 1982.

DrJulianBashir · 2 months

I think that if it becomes clear that Iran has nuclear weapons, Israel will issue a statement to the effect that, if Israel is subject to nuclear attack, Israel will proceed with its response on the assumption that Iran is directly or indirectly responsible unless compelling evidence immediately emerges that Iran is NOT responsible.

DrJulianBashir · 2 months

Actually, India and Pakistan never signed the NPT in the first place (neither did Israel).

expectingrain · 2 months

Right, someone with a steel stomach and a stone face.

EquanimousMind · 3 months

You don't seem to understand how IAEA inspection authority actually works.

The IAEA's access to nuclear facilities in any country is governed by that country's Safeguards Agreement with the agency. In Israel's case, the IAEA has site-specific inspection authority over the Nahal Soreq research reactor by virtue of the following instrument:

http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/infcirc249.pdf

The IAEA has no inspection authority over Israel facilities which are not specifically covered in the text. This type of Safeguards Agreement, which goes by the unwieldy name INFCIRC/66/Rev.2, predates the NPT and only remains in force in the three countries that never joined the treaty.

Mohammed ElBaradei, the former IAEA Director-General, explained the situation as follows:

ELBARADEI: First of all, I should like to point out that there is a lot of confusion about the IAEA’s authority with regard to Israel. The Agency has no inspection authority in Israel, except with regard to a small research reactor. As is the case with India, Pakistan and the five nuclear States, we have no legal authority to perform inspections in Israel. I agree that the Israeli military nuclear programme is a cause of great concern in the Middle East and in the world as a whole. For over thirty years, Israel has been urged to join the nuclear non-proliferation regime. We must understand, however, that the nuclear non-proliferation regime is a voluntary regime. Israel, India and Pakistan have not acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. As Director General and as an international civil servant, my authority with regard to these States is basically moral and political, rather than legal.

twolf1 · 3 months

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/02/03/192262.html

twolf1 · 3 months

Are you seriously citing a CIF op-ed in The Guardian as a "fact"?

asharp45 · 3 months

Ma'an News (a Palestinian news website) referred to him recently as an "Islamic Jihad leader."

Islamic Jihad leader enters day 34 of hunger strike

Based on that article, it certainly doesn't sound like his involvement with the group is bygone.

discocrisco · 3 months

"Children, don't follow me down the dark path."

What does this remind me of? Oh, right.

tamirmal · 3 months

Russia and China have shown Assad pretty clearly that he doesn't have to worry about international intervention anytime soon. Also, nerve gas is quite effective against anyone exposed to it who isn't wearing protective gear. It would be an ideal weapon against urban guerrillas if you were looking for an alternative to just leveling the entire area with heavy artillery and airstrikes.

tamirmal · 3 months

Ultra Orthodox jews throwing rocks at 6 year old girls because their ankles show in their dresses sounds awefully familiar to stories they scream about coming out of, say Iran.

The difference is that when shit like that happens in Israel, it's done by private citizens and the president and prime minister come out with public statements of condemnation. Whereas in Iran and Saudi Arabia, that's actually government policy.

WhoShotJR · 3 months

1) hang out with a group that is legal in its own country six years ago

Why does that matter? Lashka-e-Taiba is one of the most vicious terrorist organizations in the world. The 2008 Mumbai massacre was an LeT operation, and they had already earned their designation as a terrorist organization seven years prior. Their presence is tolerated in Pakistan because their primary target is India, but that doesn't mean someone taking orders from LeT should be excused for doing so because LeT is "legal in its own country."

You're the one who's full of self-righteous bullshit.

RaaaR · 3 months

The official PLO position calls for an independent Palestinian state to be comprised of the West Bank and Gaza. There was an 18-year period between the 1949 armistice accords and the outbreak of the 1967 war during which such a state could have been formed on those very borders and Israel would have been powerless to stop it from happening. Curiously, the Arabs did not avail themselves of the opportunity.

RaaaR · 3 months

US military aid is $5 billion.

The annual number is actually more like $3 billion.

ringopendragon · 3 months

I once heard it called Tehrangeles.

sockpupet999 · 3 months

1) don't have any bomb grade fissile material at all

Iran has enriched uranium to 20% using technology that is equally capable of enriching to fissile grade. Iran could acquire fissile material in short order if it wasn't concerned about the international ramifications of being caught in violation of its IAEA Safeguards Agreement.

With respect to all three issues you raised, the point still stands that we had those capabilities more than 50 years ago--an era when computing and materials science were much less advanced than currently. It doesn't seem at all unrealistic to me that Iran could match capabilities we achieved early in the Cold War.

Quite frankly, I think you're being more than a little condescending toward Iran.

sanhedrin

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