A nation has an anthem, a nation has a flag and a nation has an ethos. Israel’s arabs disagree with all three things. When one decides to immigrate to a new country, one knows, in advance, that in order to become part of the host country’s fabric, he or she will have to adapt to the host country. That means adopt the ethos, sing the anthem and salute the national flag. Become a true and loyal citizen. Israel’s arabs do not really belong to the state of Israel, because they do little or none of that.
The Land of Israel was an unlucky one. Since the Romans expelled the Jews from their homeland to all four corners of the world, it has seen nothing but foreign hands brush through its soil, leaving behind, as written in the pages of history, rivers of blood, chaos and desolation. While the Jews were yearning for their Jerusalem, foreign hands were mishandling their holy city.
Then, the Jews hit a lucky strike, when in 1922, they were given the Mandate for Palestine, the right to return to their ancient homeland and make the land their nation state again.
Israel’s Arabs Flowed In
With their land the Jews “gained” an Arab population. A continuous flow of Arabs into the land began in the late 19th century when Jews, running away from Russian Pogroms or other persecutions that took place in other countries, arrived to the land and created attractive economic opportunity.
The arriving Jews began purchasing land and cultivated it, which created a need for labor, a need Arabs from neighboring states filled. The more Jews succeeded economically the more attractive the land became to Arabs. During the British Mandate in Palestine, from 1920 till 1948, the British authorities encouraged Arabs to live in the land they themselves designated for the Jews.
One reason was to make sure that Jewish population remains a minority. Another reason was the British disdain for Jews. They saw the Arabs a helpful fighting force in their objection to the influx of Jews into the land and to their Zionistic ethos in its full transformation. The third reason, among others, is the black oil; the need of Britain to appease the Arab oil producing nations gave them justification to prefer Arabs over Jews, when managing their mandate in Palestine.
Arab Population Never Integrated
That Arab population that remained in Israel when the 1948 Israel War of Independence ended, never integrated, never became a genuine part of the state of Israel fabric. The 1967 war added a new dimension to the Israeli-Arab society. Now they could openly side with their brethren the “Palestinians.” In fact call themselves Palestinians rather than Israeli-Arabs and fight for their fellow Arabs’ justice, not the justice of the state of Israel.
The Israeli-Arabs identify with the Arabs Israel “gained” in the Six Day War more than they identify with the country in which they hold citizenship. This is a very dangerous state of affairs for the Jewish state, Israel.
In recent months the government of Israel has been dealing with equal responsibilities and obligations of all its citizens. It all began with the Tal Law that exempts Hareidi [very religious men] from serving in the army. The Israelis who serve in the military say that if the Hareidi sector is a recipients of all of the state’s benefits, and if the state protects them in war time, then, they need to give back. Hareidis need to serve in the military like all others.
And that debate has now expended to the Arab sector, which receives all the state’s benefits and gives nothing back to the state.
Israeli Arab Society Radicalized
In recent years, Israel’s Arab society has radicalized. Their political leaders, serving as members of Knesset, are hostile to the state. They spit anti-Israel rhetoric from the Well of the Knesset and act in seditious ways. They use the democratic system to incite against the country in which they hold citizenship and demonstrate overt loyalty to Israel’s enemies.
In the past I have made a clear statement that the Arabs holding Israel citizenship are simply Israel’s 5th column.
People who cannot relate to the national anthem and the national flag of their country, who do not see themselves as part of their country’s ethos are not Israelis. Those who see themselves as “Palestinians” rather than Israelis simply do not belong.
To growing demands that the Israel-Arabs comply with responsibilities and obligations to the country, from which they were exempt since the Jewish State was established, their reply as read in Ynetnews, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4249047,00.html. “We are a part of the Palestinian nation, and there is no way we will ever fight our Palestinian brothers.” And, “Israel’s Arabs cannot serve in an occupying army at a time of war.” That sums it all up; they are saying they do not really belong to the state of Israel.
Israel’s 5th Column
So as I predicted years ago, Israel’s Arabs are a 5th column that is now raising its ugly head. The moment of truth has arrived. The Arabs living in Israel are NOT Israelis, they are part of the “Palestinian” nation, whatever nation it is. The Arabs who found themselves living in the independent nation state of the Jewish people, Israel, were lucky but they do not see it this way. They want to receive all of a citizen’s benefits but participate in none of the citizen’s obligations. They want to have all the benefits of living in a democratic system while siding with terrorist organizations and the world’s worst tyrannies.
The question is, are they hanging in there, dodging the bullets of civil obligations with the hope that their Arab-Palestinian brothers will win the battle against the state of Israel? Or, that Israel will either be dismantled or give in as a Jewish state and they then won the battle they started in 1948? Otherwise, what is the real reason for them staying in Israel? They see it as a land to which they have no obligations and whose creation is a disaster – a nakba?
The Arabs say, the State must not put their loyalty to the test; loyalty to whom? Hmmmmm. The moment of truth, which Israel brushed under the carpet, or hid in the closet has come to haunt. Israel probably wishes this moment would have never arrived!
Why is everyone so scared to say it as it is? Who will speak for Israel? It is true that Israel’s arabs do not really belong to state of Israel!
