Survey: Most Israeli Jews would support apartheid regime in Israel
More than two-thirds of Israeli Jews say that 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank should be denied the right to vote if the area was annexed by Israel, in effect endorsing an apartheid state, according to an opinion poll reported in Haaretz.
Three out of four are in favour of segregated roads for Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank, and 58% believe Israel already practises apartheid against Palestinians, the poll found.
A third want Arab citizens within Israel to be banned from voting in elections to the country’s parliament. Almost six out of 10 say Jews should be given preference to Arabs in government jobs, 49% say Jewish citizens should be treated better than Arabs, 42% would not want to live in the same building as Arabs and the same number do not want their children going to school with Arabs.
A commentary by Gideon Levy, which accompanied the results of the poll, described the findings as disturbing. “Israelis themselves … are openly, shamelessly and guiltlessly defining themselves as nationalistic racists,” he wrote.
“It’s good to live in this country, most Israelis say, not despite its racism, but perhaps because of it. If such a survey were released about the attitude to Jews in a European state, Israel would have raised hell. When it comes to us, the rules don’t apply.” (Continue reading)
Photo: An Israeli settler — living illegally on stolen Palestinian land — throws wine on a Palestinian woman, on Shuhada Street in Hebron, Palestinian Territories.
The streets were mostly empty. I stopped to photograph some settlers marking the Jewish holiday of Purim. They were passing around a bottle of wine, toasting the holiday, nothing out of the ordinary. I noticed a Palestinian woman walking along the shut-down stores. A group of settlers were walking in the middle of the street in the opposite direction when one of them took a step towards her. I instinctually raised the camera.
She didn’t scream or stop, she hurried up the street and vanished around the corner. I was left angered and saddened — as if the wine hit me.
(via blackbeatnik)
