“And if you think that's Apartheid it's
because… You don't know what Apartheid really was”. (From “Israel
Apartheid” by Ari Lesser)
My journey through the news reports of 2013
has now reached the subject of Israel’s treatment of its largest minorities -
specifically, Moslem Arabs (including Bedouins), Christians and Druze. (Those who missed last week’s “The Israeli
Occupation in 2013” can still read
it here.)
As usual, the Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions (BDS) idiots have got it totally wrong when they accuse Israel of
being an “apartheid” state. There is no
segregation of Israel’s Jews, Arabs and Druze in the manner of South Africa
under apartheid. The following news stories from 2013 show that Israel gives
its minorities equal status in all areas of society.
When reporting medical stories involving
Israeli-Arabs I frequently feature Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center. A high proportion of Muslim women refuse to
undergo prenatal testing for deformities, so Rambam surgeons often have to
perform operations such as on
two 14 year-old twins each with a cleft palate and nose, and fused
fingers. Also at Rambam in June, Israeli-Arab
Mohammed Eckert received a kidney from the son of Israeli-Jew David
Ben-Yair whilst simultaneously David received a kidney from Mohammed’s
wife. "We bonded both physically
and mentally," said David. "Here, in our country, and in the world at
large, we have to realize that we have the power to save people, all
people."
Congenital heart defects are also common
among the Israeli-Arab population. At
28, Balal Kalash from Kfar Qara had undergone several cardiac operations at
Schneider Children's Medical Center until in June he became the hospital’s oldest
pediatric heart transplant patient.
And only in Israel could researchers have uncovered
an Arab genetic disease. The
rare bone marrow mutation “congenital neutrophil defect syndrome” affected five
Arabs at Sheba Hospital
and two Moroccan Arabs in Munich.
Israeli doctors are now working on a potential treatment.
There was no discrimination in April when
Muslim cardiologist Dr. Aziz Darawshe was promoted to become
director of the emergency department at Hadassah University Medical
Center in Jerusalem, and chairman of the Israel
Society for Urgent Medicine. Dr
Darawshe would therefore have been impressed in October by the way Doctors at
Israel’s Hadera hospital carefully extracted
a 3.5cm hatpin that was accidentally swallowed by a 16-year-old
Israeli-Arab girl from Baka al-Gharbiya.
Israel’s universities are a shining example
of Israel’s integration of its minorities.
Last year, the top student at Israel’s Technion was a Moslem Israeli
woman. Mais Ali-Saleh graduated first
in her medical school class and is now an obstetrician-gynecologist
at Carmel Medical Center in Haifa.
In February we heard about the commercial
plans for the diagnostic breath test for cancer invented by Technion’s
Israeli-Arab Professor Hossam Haick. In
April, the normally anti-Israel New York Times published a
positive feature on the Technion, highlighting its 20% Arab student
composition. It is also well worth
reading Vivian
Hamui's account of life with fellow students who include Ethiopians,
Russians, Chinese, Dutch, Venezuelans and (of course) Arabs.
Israel certainly doesn’t rest on its
(Nobel) laurels. In 2013:
-
The Hebrew University started a
program for
students from minority backgrounds
-
The Israeli Ministry of Education
founded the "Peace
University" in Nazareth
-
Israel’s Higher Education Council
launched a new $82 million, six-year
program for Arabs.
-
Channel 2 TV featured Ashraf
Brik - Israel’s first Arab Chemistry Professor.
These are some of the Jewish State’s
initiatives in 2013 to improve the economic prospects of Israeli minorities:
-
January’s R&D conference for the Arab
community, sponsored by Israel’s Ministry of Science
-
February’s inauguration of the Bedouin eco-village
of Hura
-
March’s export by Golan
Druze of 18,000 tons of apples to Syria.
-
The annual free distribution of fir
trees by the municipality to
Christian residents of Jerusalem.
-
The new Nazareth industrial park promoting economic
cooperation between all religious groups.
In
entertainment, 19-year-old Israeli-Arab
Lina Mahoul won the TV song contest “The Voice Israel” singing Leonard
Cohen’s “Halleluyah”. In sport,
Israel’s European Under-21 Soccer Championship squad
contained Jews, Arabs, Druze and Ethiopians, as you can see in this video
There may be a way to convince the BDS mob
that Israel is not an Apartheid state, but they would have to read and listen
to what ordinary Israeli Arabs said themselves in 2013. People such as:
Or the thousands of
Israel’s minorities that in 2013 were proud to serve in the Israeli Defense
Forces.
Such as:
-
Sgt René
Elhozayel - an Arab Bedouin medic with 5,600 relatives who nearly all
join the IDF.
-
Master Sgt. Marzuk
Suaed who actively goes round recruiting fellow Bedouins.
-
Bedouin Lieutenant Colonel Magdi
Mazarib, who was featured in Al Arabiya.
-
New recruit Muhammad Atrash and his
brother Milad who is
training to be an officer.
-
Colonel Ghassan Alian,
the first Druze to serve as the chief of the elite Golani Brigade.
-
And especially Bedouin Ahmed
Inaim who enlisted despite losing one brother in service and another
who was wounded in the raid in which terrorists captured Gilad Shalit. Please watch his video here.
To conclude, here is the full video of Ari
Lesser’s “Israel Apartheid” to enjoy.
Finally, here is an example of how crazy
the BDS squad really is. When Larry
Rich, from Israel’s Emek Hospital, spoke in the Scottish Parliament about
Israel’s equal treatment of its patients and medical staff, a BDS member
launched into a long verbal attack on the Jewish State. Just before he sat down, he had the gall to ask
for Israel’s help in treating someone with a serious medical condition.
Apartheid State? What on earth are they talking about!
Michael Ordman writes a free weekly
newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to
michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com
