Survey: Most Israeli Jews would support apartheid regime in Israel

[RFS_Br]

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Survey: Most Israeli Jews would support apartheid regime in Israel

Survey, conducted by Dialog on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, exposes anti-Arab, ultra-nationalist views espoused by a majority of Israeli Jews.

By Gideon Levy | Oct.23, 2012 | 2:32 PM | 103


Palestinians waiting to cross through the Hawara checkpoint near Nablus. Photo by Nir Kafri

Most of the Jewish public in Israel supports the establishment of an apartheid regime in Israel if it formally annexes the West Bank.

A majority also explicitly favors discrimination against the state's Arab citizens, a survey shows.

The survey, conducted by Dialog on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, exposes anti-Arab, ultra-nationalist views espoused by a majority of Israeli Jews. The survey was commissioned by the Yisraela Goldblum Fund and is based on a sample of 503 interviewees.

The questions were written by a group of academia-based peace and civil rights activists. Dialog is headed by Tel Aviv University Prof. Camil Fuchs.

The majority of the Jewish public, 59 percent, wants preference for Jews over Arabs in admission to jobs in government ministries. Almost half the Jews, 49 percent, want the state to treat Jewish citizens better than Arab ones; 42 percent don't want to live in the same building with Arabs and 42 percent don't want their children in the same class with Arab children.

A third of the Jewish public wants a law barring Israeli Arabs from voting for the Knesset [that is, the Israeli parliament -- RFS] and a large majority of 69 percent objects to giving 2.5 million Palestinians the right to vote if Israel annexes the West Bank [that is, they favour establishment of apartheid in the West bank -- RFS].

A sweeping 74 percent majority is in favor of separate roads for Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. A quarter - 24 percent - believe separate roads are "a good situation" and 50 percent believe they are "a necessary situation."

Almost half - 47 percent - want part of Israel's Arab population to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority and 36 percent support transferring some of the Arab towns from Israel to the PA, in exchange for keeping some of the West Bank settlements.

Although the territories have not been annexed, most of the Jewish public (58 percent ) already believes Israel practices apartheid against Arabs. Only 31 percent think such a system is not in force here. Over a third (38 percent ) of the Jewish public wants Israel to annex the territories with settlements on them, while 48 percent object.



The survey distinguishes among the various communities in Israeli society - secular, observant, religious, ultra-Orthodox and former Soviet immigrants. The ultra-Orthodox, in contrast to those who described themselves as religious or observant, hold the most extreme positions against the Palestinians. An overwhelming majority (83 percent ) of Haredim are in favor of segregated roads and 71 percent are in favor of transfer.

The ultra-Orthodox are also the most anti-Arab group - 70 percent of them support legally barring Israeli Arabs from voting, 82 percent support preferential treatment from the state toward Jews, and 95 percent are in favor of discrimination against Arabs in admission to workplaces.

The group classifying itself as religious is the second most anti-Arab. New immigrants from former Soviet states are closer in their views of the Palestinians to secular Israelis, and are far less radical than the religious and Haredi groups. However, the number of people who answered "don't know" in the "Russian" community was higher than in any other.

The Russians register the highest rate of satisfaction with life in Israel (77 percent ) and the secular Israelis the lowest - only 63 percent. On average, 69 percent of Israelis are satisfied with life in Israel.

Secular Israelis appear to be the least racist - 68 percent of them would not mind having Arab neighbors in their apartment building, 73 percent would not mind Arab students in their children's class and 50 percent believe Arabs should not be discriminated against in admission to workplaces.

The survey indicates that a third to half of Jewish Israelis want to live in a state that practices formal, open discrimination against its Arab citizens. An even larger majority wants to live in an apartheid state if Israel annexes the territories.

The survey conductors say perhaps the term "apartheid" was not clear enough to some interviewees. However, the interviewees did not object strongly to describing Israel's character as "apartheid" already today, without annexing the territories. Only 31 percent objected to calling Israel an "apartheid state" and said "there's no apartheid at all."

In contrast, 39 percent believe apartheid is practiced "in a few fields"; 19 percent believe "there's apartheid in many fields" and 11 percent do not know.

The "Russians," as the survey calls them, display the most objection to classifying their new country as an apartheid state. A third of them - 35 percent - believe Israel practices no apartheid at all, compared to 28 percent of the secular and ultra-Orthodox communities, 27 percent of the religious and 30 percent of the observant Jews who hold that view. Altogether, 58 percent of all the groups believe Israel practices apartheid "in a few fields" or "in many fields," while 11 percent don't know.

Finally, the interviewees were asked whether "a famous American author [who] is boycotting Israel, claiming it practices apartheid" should be boycotted or invited to Israel. About half (48 percent ) said she should be invited to Israel, 28 percent suggest no response and only 15 percent call to boycott her.

[Developereo]

I am surprised the legion of Israeli apologists hasn't jumped in to defend or derail this topic...

[RFS_Br]

They only do that when they can cast doubt and confusion. This is difficult to do when hard evidence, like polls, is presented.

[fateh71]

The survey shows secular people are the least racist. I agree.

As to those nutjobs supporting racism, they must be made to give up religion for a better humanity.

[Bang Galore]

The survey shows secular people are the least racist. I agree.

As to those nutjobs supporting racism, they must be made to give up religion for a better humanity.

Interesting point of how the view of the world is distorted when seen through religious lenses.

Israeli psychologist George Tamarin (1966, 1973) measured the strength of residual in-group morality. He presented Joshua 6:20-21 to 1,066 school children, ages 8-14, in order to test "the effect of uncritical teaching of the Bible on the propensity for forming prejudices (particularly the notion of the 'chosen people,' the superiority of the monotheistic religion, and the study of acts of genocide by biblical heroes)." The children's answers to the question "Do you think Joshua and the Israelites acted rightly or not?," were categorized as follows: "'A' means total approval, 'B' means partial approval or disapproval, and 'C' means total disapproval." Across a broad spectrum of Israeli social and economic classes, 66% of responses were "A," 8% "B," and 26% "C." The "A" answers tended to be as straightforward as they were numerous (Tamarin, 1966):

In my opinion Joshua and the Sons of Israel acted well, and here are the reasons: God promised them this land, and gave them permission to conquer. If they would not have acted in this manner or killed anyone, then there would be the danger that the Sons of Israel would have assimilated among the "Goyim."6
In my opinion Joshua was right when he did it, one reason being that God commanded him to exterminate the people so that the tribes of Israel will not be able to assimilate amongst them and learn their bad ways.
Joshua did good because the people who inhabited the land were of a different religion, and when Joshua killed them he wiped their religion from the earth.
Tamarin (1973) noted that:

"C" classification [total disapproval] was accorded to all answers formally rejecting genocide, either on ethical or utilitarian grounds. This does not mean that all "C" responses reveal non-discriminatory attitudes. For example, one girl criticized Joshua's act, stating that "the Sons of Israel learned many bad things from the Goyim."xAnother extremely racist response is that of a 10 year old girl disapproving the act, stating, "I think it is not good, since the Arabs are impure and if one enters an impure land one will also become impure and share their curse."

Other misgivings included (1966):

I think Joshua did not act well, as they could have spared the animals for themselves.
I think Joshua did not act well, as he should have left the property of Jericho; if he had not destroyed the property it would have belonged to the Israelites.
In contrast to the established difference between boys and girls in propensity toward violence and approval of violence in general, with regard to biblically commanded genocide Tamarin found that "Contrary to our expectation, there was no difference, concerning this most cruel form of prejudice, between male and female examinees" (1973). Less surprising, but more alarming, nearly half of the children who gave "total approval" to Joshua's behavior also gave "A" responses to the hypothetical question: "Suppose that the Israeli Army conquers an Arab village in battle. Do you think it would be good or bad to act towards the inhabitants as Joshua did towards the people of Jericho?" Tamarin (1966) received such responses as these:

In my opinion this behavior was necessary, as the Arabs are our enemies always, and the Jews did not have a country, and it was necessary to behave like that towards the Arabs.
It would have been good to treat the Arabs as Joshua and his soldiers did, as they are Arabs; they hate and retaliate against us all the time, and if we exterminate them as Joshua did, they won't be able to show themselves as greater heroes than we.
I think it was good because we want our enemies to be conquered, and to widen our frontiers, and we would kill the Arabs as Joshua and the Israelites did.
Some respondents disapproved of Joshua's campaign (answer "C"), but approved of similar acts if committed by Israeli soldiers. One girl disapproved of Joshua "because it is written in the Bible, 'don't kill'," but she approved of the conjectured Israeli Army action, stating "I think it would be good, as we want our enemies to fall into our hands, enlarge our frontiers, and kill the Arabs as Joshua did."

As a control group, Tamarin tested 168 children who were read Joshua 6:20-21 with "General Lin" substituted for Joshua and a "Chinese Kingdom 3000 years ago" substituted for Israel. General Lin got a 7% approval rating, with 18% giving partial approval or disapproval, and 75% disapproving totally

[RFS_Br]

I don't honestly think that religion causes racism. If you're a religious racist, and then quit your religion, you're probably going to become just a secular racist. It's not one's beliefs that determine one's character, but the other way around. Even if a religious racist drops his religious beliefs, his racist character will still be there and he's going to shaped by it in a lot of ways (his politics, his choice of friends, etc.). But perhaps Judaism is an exception, due to its notion of the "Chosen People".

[Chinese-Dragon]

Israeli psychologist George Tamarin (1966, 1973) measured the strength of residual in-group morality. He presented Joshua 6:20-21 to 1,066 school children, ages 8-14, in order to test "the effect of uncritical teaching of the Bible on the propensity for forming prejudices (particularly the notion of the 'chosen people,' the superiority of the monotheistic religion, and the study of acts of genocide by biblical heroes)." The children's answers to the question "Do you think Joshua and the Israelites acted rightly or not?," were categorized as follows: "'A' means total approval, 'B' means partial approval or disapproval, and 'C' means total disapproval." Across a broad spectrum of Israeli social and economic classes, 66% of responses were "A," 8% "B," and 26% "C." The "A" answers tended to be as straightforward as they were numerous (Tamarin, 1966)

As a control group, Tamarin tested 168 children who were read Joshua 6:20-21 with "General Lin" substituted for Joshua and a "Chinese Kingdom 3000 years ago" substituted for Israel. General Lin got a 7% approval rating, with 18% giving partial approval or disapproval, and 75% disapproving totally.

That is pretty crazy.

[Developereo]

The issue is not about religion or secularism, but the fact that Israel is not quite the "island of Western values" in a sea of barbarity that its supporters keep claiming. When the focus is turned on to Israel, the reality invariably turns out very different from the rhetoric.

[Desertfalcon]

It isn't religion, especially as Israel has such a secular society. Most Israelis are not very religiously observant Jews. It is an issue of demographics and the ever growing Arab-Israeli population. Israel can either be a "Jewish state" or a democracy; she can't be both. She has chosen to remain a Jewish state and so apartheid.

[Wright]

I dont see how Arabs are different, and why Israeli's should be held to a different standard.
Semitic peoples are very ethnocentric, and this applies to both Arabs and Jews.

[RFS_Br]

I dont see how Arabs are different, and why Israeli's should be held to a different standard.
Semitic peoples are very ethnocentric, and this applies to both Arabs and Jews.

The situation is completely different. Jews are newcomers in their own country. They arrived there unwelcomed and as a foreign minority. They gained their majority only by displacing part of the native population living there. It's only fair to demand that Israel treats nicely, justly, its true natives, just like countries in the Americas should be treating their native peoples with respect and guarantee their equality. No Arab country has a similar background -- no Arab country was established by Arab immigrants confronting the natives and installing unfair laws to guarantee their supremacy. Can you point me where do Arabs have a minority group in a position analogous to that of Israeli Arabs -- that is, a minority that truly belongs to the land, but is treated, by both society and laws, as if they don't?

And Israel is the only country in the region that is occupying the lands of another nation and slowly annexing them. Again, it's only fair to demand that Israel treats nicely, justly, the native peoples of the lands its occupying. And yet again, no Arab country has a similar background.

There's no comparison between Israel and its Arab neighbors in this respect. Accusations of applying double standards are therefore plain moronic. They are, in fact, proof that Israel is held by many to lower standards of bevahior. I doubt there would anyone willing to defend apartheid policies if that was any country but Israel. Thank you for refuting yourself, Wright.

[punit]

how many % of muslim wants to wipe israel off the mark ?

[Wickerman]

There are a few reasons why Israelis might be biased toward Arabs here:

1. Arabs do not serve in the military and hold a different identity contrary to the identity of the Israeli Jews.

2. Some people argue that Arabs commit crimes etc., Not sure how much they do but this seems to be a vague criteria.

3. Arabs do not like Israel and would want Israel to be totally wiped off the planet, even Israeli Arabs. This suspicion amongst Israeli Jews might definitely sway their opinions.

There are other reasons for wanting separate roads for Israelis and Palestinians too. It shouldnt be taken as apartheid. What about security? What if suicide bombers blow themselves up just to kill a few Jews? Its happened before.

And most of the poll where people actually support some form of segregation is around 45% on an average. That is NOT the majority.

For instance:

49 percent, want the state to treat Jewish citizens better than Arab ones; 42 percent don't want to live in the same building with Arabs and 42 percent don't want their children in the same class with Arab children.

49, 42 etc are not majority figures. So the majority DOES NOT want to be treated differently or doesnt mind living in the same building etc

Similarly:

47 percent - want part of Israel's Arab population to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority and 36 percent support transferring some of the Arab towns from Israel to the PA, in exchange for keeping some of the West Bank settlements.

The ultra-Orthodox are also the most anti-Arab group

The ultra orthodox are also not that much respected by Israelis. Infact there was a study put out saying how there is gonna be a demographic issue when it came to Haredi Jews. I just cant put my finger on the source for that right now.

After 70 years of war that is an amazing number. I would have expected these to be around 80 or whatever.

So yes, Israel actively practices racial segregation/profiling. But this is necessary in many cases for the purposes of security. An example is the Ben Gurion airport. Its regarded as the world's safest airport. So if you are young, Muslim and Arab, they will immediately put you through extra safety measures. They will check your gmail, google your name etc., And if you are of Arab origin, whatever be your citizenship, then they will deny you entry, especially if you are going to the West bank to meet family. I wouldnt say they are entirely right in doing that, but the security situation in that area is such. The slightest lapse in security will mean death and destruction for them. So maybe it is a necessity. But this doesnt make Jews or Israelis racist as a group. They arent.

[Wright]

]The situation is completely different. Jews are newcomers in their own country. They arrived there unwelcomed and as a foreign minority.

Jews have always been in the Middle east.

They gained their majority only by displacing part of the native population living there. It's only fair to demand that Israel treats nicely, justly, its true natives, just like countries in the Americas should be treating their native peoples with respect and guarantee their equality.

Jews claim that they were exiled from that land. Chicken and egg.

No Arab country has a similar background -- no Arab country was established by Arab immigrants confronting the natives and installing unfair laws to guarantee their supremacy.

Libya and its Berbers, non Arabs in Sudan, Kurds in Iraq to name a few. . . .
And of course Jews living in Arab nations before the creation of Israel, which is why most migrated to Israel from the other Middle Eastern states.

lower standards of bevahior. I doubt there would anyone willing to defend apartheid policies if that was any country but Israel. Thank you for refuting yourself, Wright.

[/QUOTE]

I was just pointing out Arabs are pretty racist themselves and routinely abuse their South Asian and South East Asian migrants.

Arabs have fought numerous wars with them as well. There is really not much Arabs can do except whine and complain about Israel and Iran.

[Jackdaws]

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I am sure when the shoe is on the other foot, the Arabs would have the same to say for the Jews. It is quite sad what has happened in that region.