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By Barry Rubin
As the waitress whose family had come from Ethiopia put the pizza on the table at the Tel Aviv restaurant, I contemplated the ridiculous misuse of "race" as a factor in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Regardless of skin color, we belong not only to the same country by way of citizenship but also to the same nation and people in a very profound way that isn't true for countries that are merely geographical entities.
Among the scores of ridiculous things said, thought, and written about the Arab-Israeli conflict, the pretense that it has something to do with "race" ranks high among them. This has been interjected for two reasons. First, this is a blatant attempt to demonize and delegitimize Israel.
Second, as part of that point but also due to trends in Western intellectual discussions, there is a conflation of nationality and race. Often, there is an attempt nowadays to portray any form of nationalism in the West as racist, though this is never applied to Third World nationalists situations. Neither the internal conflicts in Iraq (among Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds) nor in Lebanon (among numerous groups) are about race but rather arise from national, ethnic, and religious (sometimes all rolled up into one) conflicts.
One of the most basic lessons in looking at foreign or international affairs is to understand that countries just don't think alike about issues. America, and in a different way Europe, has been obsessed with race. That doesn't mean everyone else is racially oriented. Israelis don't think about skin color as such and are well aware that Jews, while having a common ancestry, have been affected by many cultures and societies.
With intermarriage rates between Jews whose ancestors came from Europe and those who came from the Middle East approaching half in Israel today, there is no way to classify people. In fact, Israelis are far less interested than other countries about people's ancestral travels.
Moreover, what does one say about such "darker-skinned" Israelis as my Hungarian-Yemenite colleague or my Syrian-origin pianist neighbor (whose wife is from Poland by way of Argentina? There is absolutely no issue involved here. And many Israelis of European origin are not exactly "white" in their appearance.
Indeed, Israel has more "blacks" among its Jews (from Ethiopia) than do the Palestinians by far. Israeli media never use racial stereotypes or epithets while Arab and Palestinian media have had numerous racist remarks and cartoons about such American leaders as Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, and now even Barack Obama. In a recent radio interview one of the leaders of the Islamist movement in Israel, in other words from the Arab minority here, said that it was a disgrace that a black Israeli soldier could ask for the identity document of an Arab Muslim. Yet such racism from the Arab/Palestinian side is ignored in the Western media.
While there have been some incidents in reaction to the arrival of Jews from Ethiopia, these have been few and universally rejected. Moreover, Israel has given refuge to the American "Black Hebrew" movement when it easily could have deported them.
It is officially estimated that at least 19 asylum seekers have been shot dead by Egyptian forces in Sinai. To my knowledge no one in this category has ever been injured in Israel.
I have had friends, mostly Filipinos, who were illegal workers (they overstayed work permits) deported from Israel and they simply accepted it and were soon working in another country. None of them bears any grudge against Israel, quite the contrary they could serve as citizen ambassadors on its behalf. None of them ever reported a single case of "racial" mistreatment and I don't believe there has ever been--and workers' advocacy groups have never reported--a racial assault or even insult on any foreign worker in Israel. The problem, of course, is that there is at times terrible economic exploitation by unscrupulous employers, which is in no way atypical in the world today.
The Israel-Palestinian and Arab-Israeli conflicts are in no way "racial." National identity is something quite different from "race" generally. Israelis and Arabs are not easily distinguished by skin color, though of course there are exceptions.I was in an Israeli government agency meeting a high-ranking official whose skin shade was darker than that of Barack Obama. This was only something I noted because I was planning to write the article you are reading now.
I arrived at the meeting mentioned above by taking a cab from my neighborhood taxi stand. I gave the address and the driver went back to speaking on his mobile phone in Arabic, which is the only reason I realized he was an Israeli Arab. I couldn't tell just by looking at him.
The attempt by anti-Israel slanderers to inject a racial aspect is ludicrously nonsensical. If you have ever travelled in Syria you would find that the average skin color of people there is lighter than that of Israelis on average. Generally speaking, there is less variation in "racial terms" between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs than there is among member states of the European Union.
It just doesn't apply to conditions here. 'While Palestinian Arabs are on average a shade or two darker than Israelis you can find wider variations within the EU member states.
Please be subscriber 17,195. Put your email address in the upper right-hand box of the page at http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com/
We depend on your contributions. Tax-deductible donation through PayPal or credit card: click Donate button, upper-right hand corner of this page: http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com/. By check: "American Friends of IDC.” “For GLORIA Center” on memo line. Mail: American Friends of IDC, 116 East 16th St., 11th Floor, NY, NY 10003.
By Barry Rubin
As the waitress whose family had come from Ethiopia put the pizza on the table at the Tel Aviv restaurant, I contemplated the ridiculous misuse of "race" as a factor in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Regardless of skin color, we belong not only to the same country by way of citizenship but also to the same nation and people in a very profound way that isn't true for countries that are merely geographical entities.
Among the scores of ridiculous things said, thought, and written about the Arab-Israeli conflict, the pretense that it has something to do with "race" ranks high among them. This has been interjected for two reasons. First, this is a blatant attempt to demonize and delegitimize Israel.
Second, as part of that point but also due to trends in Western intellectual discussions, there is a conflation of nationality and race. Often, there is an attempt nowadays to portray any form of nationalism in the West as racist, though this is never applied to Third World nationalists situations. Neither the internal conflicts in Iraq (among Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds) nor in Lebanon (among numerous groups) are about race but rather arise from national, ethnic, and religious (sometimes all rolled up into one) conflicts.
One of the most basic lessons in looking at foreign or international affairs is to understand that countries just don't think alike about issues. America, and in a different way Europe, has been obsessed with race. That doesn't mean everyone else is racially oriented. Israelis don't think about skin color as such and are well aware that Jews, while having a common ancestry, have been affected by many cultures and societies.
With intermarriage rates between Jews whose ancestors came from Europe and those who came from the Middle East approaching half in Israel today, there is no way to classify people. In fact, Israelis are far less interested than other countries about people's ancestral travels.
Moreover, what does one say about such "darker-skinned" Israelis as my Hungarian-Yemenite colleague or my Syrian-origin pianist neighbor (whose wife is from Poland by way of Argentina? There is absolutely no issue involved here. And many Israelis of European origin are not exactly "white" in their appearance.
Indeed, Israel has more "blacks" among its Jews (from Ethiopia) than do the Palestinians by far. Israeli media never use racial stereotypes or epithets while Arab and Palestinian media have had numerous racist remarks and cartoons about such American leaders as Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, and now even Barack Obama. In a recent radio interview one of the leaders of the Islamist movement in Israel, in other words from the Arab minority here, said that it was a disgrace that a black Israeli soldier could ask for the identity document of an Arab Muslim. Yet such racism from the Arab/Palestinian side is ignored in the Western media.
While there have been some incidents in reaction to the arrival of Jews from Ethiopia, these have been few and universally rejected. Moreover, Israel has given refuge to the American "Black Hebrew" movement when it easily could have deported them.
It is officially estimated that at least 19 asylum seekers have been shot dead by Egyptian forces in Sinai. To my knowledge no one in this category has ever been injured in Israel.
I have had friends, mostly Filipinos, who were illegal workers (they overstayed work permits) deported from Israel and they simply accepted it and were soon working in another country. None of them bears any grudge against Israel, quite the contrary they could serve as citizen ambassadors on its behalf. None of them ever reported a single case of "racial" mistreatment and I don't believe there has ever been--and workers' advocacy groups have never reported--a racial assault or even insult on any foreign worker in Israel. The problem, of course, is that there is at times terrible economic exploitation by unscrupulous employers, which is in no way atypical in the world today.
The Israel-Palestinian and Arab-Israeli conflicts are in no way "racial." National identity is something quite different from "race" generally. Israelis and Arabs are not easily distinguished by skin color, though of course there are exceptions.I was in an Israeli government agency meeting a high-ranking official whose skin shade was darker than that of Barack Obama. This was only something I noted because I was planning to write the article you are reading now.
I arrived at the meeting mentioned above by taking a cab from my neighborhood taxi stand. I gave the address and the driver went back to speaking on his mobile phone in Arabic, which is the only reason I realized he was an Israeli Arab. I couldn't tell just by looking at him.
The attempt by anti-Israel slanderers to inject a racial aspect is ludicrously nonsensical. If you have ever travelled in Syria you would find that the average skin color of people there is lighter than that of Israelis on average. Generally speaking, there is less variation in "racial terms" between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs than there is among member states of the European Union.
It just doesn't apply to conditions here. 'While Palestinian Arabs are on average a shade or two darker than Israelis you can find wider variations within the EU member states.
But if you can label someone as a "racist" because they are engaged in a conflict with another nation or group automatically "proves" they are in the wrong. If the conflict is a national one, however, you actually have to think about it. Who's right in the following conflicts: Irish Catholics or Protestants; Basques or Spain; Bosnians or Serbs; Russians or Chechens, Somalis or Ethiopians; Iraqi Sunni, Shia, or Kurds; India or Pakistan; Azerbaijan or Armenia, and so on?
The answer cannot be deduced automatically. But label one side as racist and the discussion is over. This, then, is a trick for deceiving, not a tool for understanding.
The ridiculousness of attempts to transfer American or European situations to Israel was embodied in an American student asking an Israeli professor how many blacks were on his university's basketball team. Actually, there are many on the professional teams but they are all, of course, from the United States, though I believe one or two had converted and remained in Israel.
I don't think there's any question of the fact that there is far far more racism in Europe or in the Arabic-speaking world than in Israel--and that's an understatement.
PS: The following was written by a reader:
I simply Googled 'racial discrimination in saudi arabia'. Here's the result. About 1,110,000 results (0.20 seconds)
A few weeks back I read of the appalling numbers of Sri Lankan women who had gone to Saudi to work as maids and returned in body bags. Around forty per month, beaten to death.
How many foreign women leave Israel in such a condition to be interred in home ground? Answer: Not one.
Advanced search
About 1,110,000 results (0.20 seconds)
Search Results
1. Racism in the Middle East - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Racism in Saudi Arabia mainly against Labor workers who are foreigners , mostly from Bangladesh , Pakistan and the poor countries. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_the_Middle_East - Cached - Similar
2. My World and More ..: Racism in Saudi Arabia
17 Jan 2010 ... Racism in Saudi Arabia. Again thanx to Abu Sinan for inspiring me to write this post about racism. the comment was made in this post and ...
musesephere.blogspot.com/2010/.../racism-in-saudi-arabia.html - Cached - Similar
3. How a British jihadi saw the light - Times Online
3 May 2010 ... The problems of Saudi Arabia were not limited to racism and sexual frustration. In contemporary Wahhabism there are two broad factions. ...
entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and.../article1685726.ece - Similar
4. Saudi Arabia Forums: Closet racists, I witnessed pure racism the ...
13 posts - 12 authors - Last post: 21 May 2007
Saudi Arabia Forums: Closet racists, I witnessed pure racism the other day when a group of colleagues made some jokes about Asian workers, ...
www.justlanded.com › Saudi Arabia › Forums › Culture - Cached - Similar
South Africa Forums: South Africa - Reverse Racism, Whites are ...
Dubai Forums: Racism in dubai, I am a Coloured South African women ...
More results from justlanded.com »
5. Is There Racism in Saudi Arabia? « American Bedu
26 Oct 2007 ... I understand this to be racism. I was asking as I have only ever spent a short time in Saudi Arabia so am not able to know the true lay of ...
americanbedu.com/2007/10/.../is-there-racism-in-the-kingdom/ - Cached - Similar
6.
Is there racism in saudi arabia? - Yahoo! Answers
racism towards Pakistanis, Filipinos, Bengalis ... If you are not a muslim they hate you!!! PERIOD!!!! ... There is racism everywhere...unfortunately. ...
answers.yahoo.com › ... › Saudi Arabia - Cached - Similar
7.
Saudi Arabia and racism? - Thai360 - Powered by FusionBB
10 posts - 8 authors - Last post: 12 Jun 2007
In response to drogon - Saudi Arabia and racism? You'll hate it. Everyone does. The only reason to go there is if they are paying good money ...
www.thai360.com › ... › Thai Life › Career/Finances - Cached - Similar
8.
Saudi Arabia Racism & Xenophobia News - Media Monitoring Service ...
Saudi Arabia Racism & Xenophobia News. Service for global professionals. Constantly updated news and information about Saudi Arabia.
www.einnews.com/saudiarabia/newsfeed-saudi-racism-xenophobia -
9. Saudi Pride or Simple Racism? Crossroads Arabia: 20 Feb 2010 ... Saudi Gazette/Okaz run this piece taken from another Saudi newspaper but just which one isn't apparent. The content, however, is good.
xrdarabia.org/2010/02/20/saudi-pride-or-simple-racism/
10. The Daily Star Web Edition Vol. 5 Num 61: 27 Jul 2004 ... Anyone who has visited Saudi Arabia knows the racism with which ordinary Saudis treats the brown and black-skinned masses that come for Hajj ...
www.thedailystar.net/2004/07/27/d40727150297.htm
Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). The website of the GLORIA Center is at http://www.gloria-center.org and of his blog, Rubin Reports, at http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com.
I don't think there's any question of the fact that there is far far more racism in Europe or in the Arabic-speaking world than in Israel--and that's an understatement.
PS: The following was written by a reader:
I simply Googled 'racial discrimination in saudi arabia'. Here's the result. About 1,110,000 results (0.20 seconds)
A few weeks back I read of the appalling numbers of Sri Lankan women who had gone to Saudi to work as maids and returned in body bags. Around forty per month, beaten to death.
How many foreign women leave Israel in such a condition to be interred in home ground? Answer: Not one.
Advanced search
About 1,110,000 results (0.20 seconds)
Search Results
1. Racism in the Middle East - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Racism in Saudi Arabia mainly against Labor workers who are foreigners , mostly from Bangladesh , Pakistan and the poor countries. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_the_Middle_East - Cached - Similar
2. My World and More ..: Racism in Saudi Arabia
17 Jan 2010 ... Racism in Saudi Arabia. Again thanx to Abu Sinan for inspiring me to write this post about racism. the comment was made in this post and ...
musesephere.blogspot.com/2010/.../racism-in-saudi-arabia.html - Cached - Similar
3. How a British jihadi saw the light - Times Online
3 May 2010 ... The problems of Saudi Arabia were not limited to racism and sexual frustration. In contemporary Wahhabism there are two broad factions. ...
entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and.../article1685726.ece - Similar
4. Saudi Arabia Forums: Closet racists, I witnessed pure racism the ...
13 posts - 12 authors - Last post: 21 May 2007
Saudi Arabia Forums: Closet racists, I witnessed pure racism the other day when a group of colleagues made some jokes about Asian workers, ...
www.justlanded.com › Saudi Arabia › Forums › Culture - Cached - Similar
South Africa Forums: South Africa - Reverse Racism, Whites are ...
Dubai Forums: Racism in dubai, I am a Coloured South African women ...
More results from justlanded.com »
5. Is There Racism in Saudi Arabia? « American Bedu
26 Oct 2007 ... I understand this to be racism. I was asking as I have only ever spent a short time in Saudi Arabia so am not able to know the true lay of ...
americanbedu.com/2007/10/.../is-there-racism-in-the-kingdom/ - Cached - Similar
6.
Is there racism in saudi arabia? - Yahoo! Answers
racism towards Pakistanis, Filipinos, Bengalis ... If you are not a muslim they hate you!!! PERIOD!!!! ... There is racism everywhere...unfortunately. ...
answers.yahoo.com › ... › Saudi Arabia - Cached - Similar
7.
Saudi Arabia and racism? - Thai360 - Powered by FusionBB
10 posts - 8 authors - Last post: 12 Jun 2007
In response to drogon - Saudi Arabia and racism? You'll hate it. Everyone does. The only reason to go there is if they are paying good money ...
www.thai360.com › ... › Thai Life › Career/Finances - Cached - Similar
8.
Saudi Arabia Racism & Xenophobia News - Media Monitoring Service ...
Saudi Arabia Racism & Xenophobia News. Service for global professionals. Constantly updated news and information about Saudi Arabia.
www.einnews.com/saudiarabia/newsfeed-saudi-racism-xenophobia -
9. Saudi Pride or Simple Racism? Crossroads Arabia: 20 Feb 2010 ... Saudi Gazette/Okaz run this piece taken from another Saudi newspaper but just which one isn't apparent. The content, however, is good.
xrdarabia.org/2010/02/20/saudi-pride-or-simple-racism/
10. The Daily Star Web Edition Vol. 5 Num 61: 27 Jul 2004 ... Anyone who has visited Saudi Arabia knows the racism with which ordinary Saudis treats the brown and black-skinned masses that come for Hajj ...
www.thedailystar.net/2004/07/27/d40727150297.htm
Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). The website of the GLORIA Center is at http://www.gloria-center.org and of his blog, Rubin Reports, at http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com.
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