"Jim Crow" in Israel? Bizarre narrative making light of America's
mistreatment of Blacks
Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA 31 March 2015

Internet is loaded with items by American lefties ranting and raving about
"Jim Crow" in Israel with the charge that Arabs in Israel experience
conditions similar to what Blacks suffered in America.

This is an insult to the memory of the suffering of generations of Black
Americans.

Consider all the rhetoric surrounding the election day remark of Prime
Minister Netanyahu.

An Israeli politician told his supporter to GO OUT AND VOTE because people -
yes - Arabs - supporting another party were voting!

To claim that this in any way Is similar to America of the past is to
whitewash the very tainted past of America.

Because the "American" response to the "threat" of a large Black turnout at
the polls wasn't to encourage whites to vote - it was to PREVENT Blacks
from voting.

Israelis didn't stand with shotguns to block Arabs from voting.

Israeli election supervisors didn't try to stop Arabs from voting by
insisting that they pass a test only a PhD in American history could handle
in order to register to vote. (Every citizen in Israel automatically has
the right to vote - all they need
to do is show up with their ID card or valid driver's license).

The ballot tallies weren't mysteriously hijacked on the way to a central
tally.

So please - attack Israel all you want - but don't deny the terrible
American past by implying that the worst thing Blacks experienced was
hearing white politicians calling for whites to get out and vote to offset
the Black vote.

Same for the rest of the narrative:

I am old enough to remember the vestiges of JIm Crow. And Jim Crow was a
nightmare.

A real nightmare.

Comparing what's going on in Israel is to deny all that pain and suffering.

Israeli Arabs are NOT experiencing Jim Crow!!!

Go to the mall in my Yuppy city - Raanana - and you will see Israeli Arab
families as CUSTOMERS - buying in stores and being served by Jewish waiters
(and vice versa). Same for our main street Achuza - where, I might mention,
there are probably more places open after 11 PM to eat than at "the city
that never sleeps" (try getting a decent meal after a Broadway show).

And the Arabs from the other side of the Green Line?

Well, before Oslo and the terror it introduced Gazans commuted in the
morning to work in Tel Aviv. In their own private cars.

Thanks to the retreat, Gaza is a particularly thorny security problem for
access into Israel.

Today many thousands commute from the West Bank and restrictions are being
lowered with men and women over 50 and 55 respectively able to come over for
any reason (not just to work) without any limits.

And those who do come over eat at the same tables, drink from the same water
fountains and go to the same bathrooms as anyone else. And, of course, they
share the same hospital wards etc. - treated by staffs that include - yes -
many Israeli Arabs at every level of authority.

To repeat: don't whitewash America's terrible past by claiming that what's
going on here is in any way similar to America's past.
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IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis

Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on Arab-Israeli relations

Website: www.imra.org.il