Scenes from the ‘Jewish & democratic’ state: Galilee politician works to prevent sale of homes to Palestinians

The following article originally appeared in Yediot Ahronot on October 22nd. It only appeared in Hebrew, this translation was done by Daphna Baram:

You do not want Arabs in Karmiel? Report to Purple Email!

Karmiel’s Deputy Mayor, Oren Milstein, does not want any Arabs in his town. Therefore he urges the public to report real estate deals with Arabs to a special email address, and his bureau assists the anti-Arab initiative. Milstein: “The email address is operated by a private person”.

Nadav Mayost

Residents of Karmiel are invited to report Arabs who intend to buy flats in the town, said Karmiel’s deputy Mayor, Oren Milstein, in an interview on the Internet site “Besheva”. In the same interview he mentioned a weekly ad in the local press which calls on residents to report such information to a special “purple email address”. Milstein went on to say, using the first person: “Residents are welcome to turn to us the moment they become aware of a flat which is about to be sold to someone from one of the [surrounding Arab] villages. Once a flat in Karmiel is sold to an Arab family – it is a solid fact for generations to come”.

Milstein intimates that the selling of 30 flats has already been prevented in this way. In the interview Milstein mentions the “Taatzumot Israel” (“the Prowess of Israel”) association. The association’s website says it concerns itself with “settling the Land of Israel”. It is registered in Karmiel and its director is a resident of Karmiel. The Deputy Mayor’s office does not hide its support for the anti-Arab initiative, but denies a direct connection to it. We received a great deal of assistance there this week in our attempts to get the “purple email address”, and there was also an effort to get information out of us. We have approached the Deputy Mayor’s bureau because we wanted to fathom out who‘s behind the initiative, which is why we claimed to have information about a person who intends to sell his flat to an Arab.

The Deputy Mayor’s secretary tried at first to find the relevant email address for us, but she also tried to persuade us to provide her with the information. “I need to know who this neighbour of yours is, and I’ll pass it on to the person who deals with it.”

“I have no problem giving you the email address. What I know is that you need to provide the neighbour’s details, his name, address, telephone number. I know that they call him and plead with him and try to hook him up with alternative buyers by putting him in touch with estate agents. They’d try every possible way”. The secretary was anxious to find out whether it was already too late. She asked: “The contract has not been signed yet, has it?”

A concerned Karmiel resident We asked who is behind the venture and were told “send the email, ask your questions, you will get answers”. The secretary gave us the email address: lo.le.mechira@gmail.com, and suggested we write in and await a response. [Lo Lemechira means not for sale.]

Following Milstein’s recommendation we have emailed the address we were given, introduced ourselves as a “concerned Karniel resident ” and said the deal might take place as early as three days hence. We received the following answer: “Dear Karmiel resident, I am a Karmiel resident just like you. Our aim is amicable and we cannot impose anything on anybody. We would like to have your phone number in order to discuss matters. Best wishes from the Purple Email”. This email came from an address entitled “My Home is My Home”. But our detailed questions seem to have aroused suspicion, as the next email to arrive was from the “Israel’s Prowess” Association. It said “Your questions lead us to believe that your aim is not to prevent sales of property to Arabs but to investigate in the opposite direction… Our intention is not to act against Arabs but against breaking the status quo in the town, which was set up as a Jewish town in a sea of Arab villages. Respectfully, the fund for the encouragement of settlement”. In the end it noted “your email has been forwarded to the Deputy Mayor, Mr Oren Milstein”.

A senior political figure in Karmiel said in response: “It is worth noting that in the past other regimes urged snitches to contact them and tell them where Jews were hiding. Such phenomena should be condemned [one can’t but wonder why such a senior political figure does not condemn under his own name. DB]. Uri Avnery of the Gush Shalom movement said: “I grew up in Germany and as a child I saw the Nazis come into power. This is the beginning of a slippery slope. It worries me that they believe that the residents of Karmiel would support such a racist and fascist approach. In Germany there were towns and villages where people put up signs “there are no Jews here” and if someone wanted to sell to a Jew the local population prevented it, until in the end there was legislation that stopped it altogether. It is worrying that Karmiel is the pioneer. That it is done openly, without shame”. The municipality responded: “Karmiel municipality has no involvement in this private venture, therefore it should not be the one to respond.”

We have approached Milstein with detailed questions as to the nature of his involvement in the “purple email” venture. Among other things he was asked why responses from Purple Email come under the logo “My Home” – the name of his political faction in the municipality. His response: “It is my understanding that the Purple Email is operated by a private person. The municipality building has nothing to do with it. My position is that any person is entitled to sell his property as they wish. However sometimes a situation arises when a property is on the market but not sold for a while. I think connecting such sellers to investors from Israel and abroad is a step to be encouraged. Practically, this is free mediation service between residents”.