Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

A great primer . . .

While Arab Israelis are not generally required to serve in the IDF, many (especially from the Druze and Bedouin communities) have often volunteered to do so, and have served their country with great distinction.

Both the LA Times and Christian Science Monitor have recognized Arab service in the IDF on their own pages. As noted by Snapshots, the LA Times published a correction of a similar error in Feb. 2004, stating that “In fact, although they cannot be drafted and most choose not to serve, Israeli Palestinians can enlist in the service.” And the CSM published an in-depth article on Arab Israelis in 2002 that noted:

As Arab citizens of Israel, the villagers aren’t required to serve in the army. A visit to any of trhe Arab cemeteries reveals that almost every family in the village has a member in the local military cemetery.

Indeed, a recent study indicated that the number of Arab volunteers to the IDF ? including Muslim Arabs ? is growing. Given both media outlets’ prior recognition of this fact, the error can only be ascribed to sloppy editorial review, which should be acknowledged and corrected.

According to Honest Reporting, [ UPDATE 5/22: Both papers have issued corrections: LA Times correction , CSM correction]

2) STATUS OF ARAB ISRAELIS

It is amazing how American diplomats and seemingly educated people buy into the canard that Israel treats the Arab minority, much like the United States treated Afro-Americans in the South before the era of civil rights This, too, is an irresponsible distortion.

Though the government of Israel has officially recognized some policy shortcomings toward its Arab minority, it’s ludicrous to compare that to the discrimination suffered by African-Americans during that period in American history. Consider:

• As opposed to the U.S., the foundational document of the State of Israel upheld the principle of civil equality ? despite the fact it was drafted during a state of war with surrounding Arabs:

• [The State of Israel] will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex… We appeal, in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months – to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the building of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions. (Israeli Declaration of Independence, 1948)

• Eleven Israeli Arabs currently serve in Israel’s Knesset, including two in the dominant Likud party.

• Israeli Supreme Court — Justice Salim Joubran. As an Arab Justice, Salim Joubran, holds a seat on the Israeli Supreme Court.

• The Israeli government is currently implementing a 4-year, 4 billion shekel plan to develop infrastructures in the Arab sector.

• Israeli Arabs attend and lecture in every Israeli university. In fact, prominent Arab academics such as Sari Nusseibeh (possibly the greatest true intellectual of the Palestinian community) were outspoken against the recent boycott of Israeli universities by the UK’s Association of University Teachers.

• Even diplomatic positions are open to Israeli Arabs, who have held key posts in Atlanta (Consul-General), South America, Finland (Ambassador) and elsewhere.

• Israeli Arabs consistently state that they’d prefer to remain in Israel rather than join a future Palestinian state. A May 2001 survey found that just 30 percent of Israel’s Arab population would agree to the Galilee Triangle being annexed to a future Palestinian state. By February 2004, according to the Haifa-based Arab Center for Applied Social Research, that figure had reached 90 percent preferring to remain in Israel.