I get the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and a few months back they published this amazing story by Awatef Sheikh (a former aide to a Palestinian member of the Knesset). It wasn't online when the magazine showed up, but now it is. (You should all subscribe to the Washington Report). It begins with an incident as related by a Jewish Israeli mother, Karni Eldad, in an article in Haaretz. These are just excerpts:
The Jewish Israeli mother posted her ad at a café on Mount Scopus adjacent to her neighborhood, the French Hill. Both are located in East Jerusalem, occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed by Israel in violation of international law. [Karni] Eldad was fortunate: a woman called to express interest in the job. She described the caller as an intelligent and amazing person, a mother with two children, thus giving her credentials as an experienced babysitter.
But there was a problem: the caller’s name was Suha and she lived in Isaweyeh, a Palestinian slum-like neighborhood in East Jerusalem, just a few hundred yards away from Eldad’s pleasant, well-maintained neighborhood. Eldad rejected Suha and told her and Haaretz readers why: Grappling with her conscience, Eldad confessed she was “afraid to employ an Arab woman.”
“I tried to imagine an Arab caregiver for my son,” Eldad wrote. “No problem. She sounded delightful.....But what if...” she went on to reflect. “What if she duplicates the key and gives it to her cousin who will steal the car/computer/wallet/gun? Or what if she really is an honest and nice person and innocently tells a relative in Taibeh (or for the sake of argument, in Ramallah) that she’s looking after a cute baby? Will that person kidnap him? Or extort money from us? Or worse? And what if none of this, but I always have the feeling that maybe, maybe yes?”
The author explained what she described as her “moral dilemma”: she succumbed to her fears and wondered whether this means she is racist. She questioned what has changed; her parents had had an Arab cleaner when she was young....
I was in Jerusalem recently and ran into the pseudonymous Suha, an old acquaintance from university. Her actual name is Aswan; she is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, originally from Nazareth, a single mother of two children. She is doing her Ph.D. in philosophy at the Hebrew University, has a master’s degree in educational anthropology, a diploma in management of not-for-profit community centers, and is a former manager of one. She is a qualified group facilitator with experience in facilitating conflict resolution discussion groups of Jewish and Palestinian participants, and is qualified in mediation and trust-building practices. Aswan lives with her two children at the Hebrew University’s Student Village in the French Hill—not in Isaweyeh, as Eldad stated in her article.
Why, then, did Eldad specify Isaweyeh? Because in order to justify her “moral dilemma,” Eldad required the typical image of a Palestinian—the sneaky, untrustworthy one...
Aswan explained to me that she tried to convince Eldad to meet, but failed. “Do you want to meet, and then you can see there is nothing to be afraid of?” she suggested. Eldad declined. Aswan then suggested meeting to discuss Eldad’s fears, regardless of the job. Attempting to end the conversation, Eldad said: “I couldn’t hire you even if I wanted to. My dad is a member of the Knesset and, according to the law, his children can’t hire an Arab babysitter for security reasons.”
While there are more than 20 laws in Israel which discriminate against Palestinian citizens, none forbid Jewish MKs from hiring Palestinian citizens as babysitters—at least, not yet.
Aswan is not alone in this experience (nor, sadly, is Eldad in her views)....
When I asked Aswan how her experience with Eldad affected her as a citizen, she replied: “We face racism and Israeli supremacy on a daily basis, in the smallest details of our daily lives. But this was hard to deal with: I was rejected as a human—but I refuse to see myself as a victim. On the contrary, Eldad is the victim.”
I think that this shows just how intense the race hatred is within Jewish Israelis. As bad as things were for African American women in the US, historically and through to the not too distant past, with the double-hit of being black and female, at least they could still find work as housekeepers and caregivers (even if that was often the only jobs anyone would let them have).
In apartheid Israel, even that is beyond comprehension for a racist Jew.
or maybe she was scared her children would be decapitated like the Fogel children? Calling her a racist Jew because she was concerned about the safety of her children is sick.
“Calling her a racist Jew because she was concerned about the safety of her children is sick.”
Let me type this slowly so you understand. The racism here is not the fact that she was concerned for her children. Reread the article very slowly and try to imagine a world where people aren’t judged solely on the basis of their ethnicity.
They aren’t just JUDGED on the basis of their not being Jewish. It is everything in the “Jewish” state. Their income is defined by it. The amount of money spent to educate them is based on their religion. Where they are allowed to live depends on it. As does their life expectancy.
Donald,
Try to understand that it is impossible in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict not to make judgments based on ethnicity. It is not as if the terror attacks in Israel were also perpetuated by Jews. For several years, Israeli civilians were targeted by Palestinian suicide bombers that were hailed as heroes by most of Palestinian society. How can we not take that into our judgement? I am sure a person in Gaza has the same view about Israeli Jews. It will take years to repair the loss of trust.
Because as everyone knows, it was a Palestinian who shot Yitzhak Rabin!
Why the f*ck should the Fogel family’s murder have anything to do with Karni Eldad’s perception of Suha?
If a family in Queens is murdered and the rumor* is that a black male committed the murder (*the Fogel family wasn’t necessary killed by a Palestinian, mind you), and I live in Brooklyn, I should be skeptical of hiring a black woman to babysit my children out of concern for the safety of my kids?
You’re a twisted little miscreant, dbg.
yes, the Fogel family was killed by 2 Palestinians
allegedly
they confessed. you’ll of course argue that fact as well because that is the way you ppl operate on here.
they confessed? after weeks home of invasions rounding up hundreds of people? and i’m so sure nobody was tortured. and lets not forget one of the alleged perps just got out of the hospital from an operation the day before and was bedridden and his doctor said it would have been impossible for him to traverse the terrain.
spare us this garbage. israel lies with impunity constantly. their word mean jack shit.
coming from someone who so casually excuses blatant unadulterated racism! what a tool you are. take the last word i’m done with this worthless exchange.
And in Brooklyn a young boy was tortured and murdered by a religious Jew. Following your logic no one should hire or even befriend a relgious Jew because they might murder your child.
Thank you for skipping over the entire point of my post, DBG, choosing instead to quibble over irrelevant details.
So, allow me to rephrase, let’s assume that a black man in Queens confesses to murdering a family. In Brooklyn, I am merely “concerned for the safety” of my children in denying a babysitting role to a black female who applies? And this is rational to you, or is there something special about Israeli Jews that gives them carte blanche to behave like racists?
You’re naive. When you have friends and family members blown up, shot at, and stabbed to death, then come and condescend to moralize.
“When you have friends and family members blown up, shot at, and stabbed to death, then come and condescend to moralize.”
When Jews in inner city areas of the US started to find themselves being shot by drug gangs, what did they do for their families? Did they claim G-d granted them Detroit or did they move away ?
Maybe it is time for the Jews to leave the stolen land and then they won’t have to worry.
Seafoid,
You finally understand the difference between Jews in the US and Israel. I am not moving anywhere and I won’t be intimidated. If you mess with me, I will mess with you. If I need to, I will give my life for my country.
luckily those days are over seafoid.
Eee, you’re basically a bully You and DBG are basically predicating your argument on the notion that there are “lesser races” who deserve to be discriminated against.
There are Holocaust victims who are ROLLING in their mass graves now because of you too, veritably.
This is a talkback to the Haaretz article:
“I have to say that this story confirms my decision to leave the country. I simply don’t want to bring my children up to rationalise their racism in this way”.
The whole system is rotten, DBG. Ethnocracy has no place in the 21st century. Why were the Fogels in the West Bank ? Why are Jews safer in the US than Israel ?
“or maybe she was scared her children would be decapitated like the Fogel children? Calling her a racist Jew because she was concerned about the safety of her children is sick.”
So then because Bernie Madoff is a Jew, would it be okay for someone not to hire a money manager, solely because he’s a Jew, out of fear of getting ripped of like Bernie Madoff’s clients were?
If enough Jewish money managers were swindlers, that would be the inevitable outcome. If some Jewish money managers described themselves as wanting to swindle Jews, that would be the outcome. It takes time to build trust, but it is easy to break and very difficult to heal. And that is the situation between Palestinians and Jews. After the second intifada I just do not trust Palestinian society. I believe they will use all means to combat and inflict pain on Israelis and that includes for example pressuring an Arab care giver to facilitate a terror attack or kidnapping. Therefore, I would not trust an Arab care giver with my children either. It is not racism, it is just playing the odds. When there is peace and trust I would not have such a problem.
>> After the second intifada I just do not trust Palestinian society. I believe they will use all means to combat and inflict pain on Israelis … When there is peace and trust I would not have such a problem.
Meanwhile, I and other hateful and immoral Zio-supremacists like me will continue to oppress, occupy, steal, colonize, destroy, kill and hate.
And we will absolve ourselves of any responsibility for the violence, destruction and carnage we wreak, and place the blame on “dissent”, Hamas and/or dirty and untrustworthy Ay-rabs.
And if the Palestinians don’t like it, f*ck ‘em.
I call this “negotiation” because, y’know, I use “common sense”.
eee,
“It is not racism”
It is racism; you just are comfortable being a racist.
Eljay,
Meanwhile other people like me will continue to press for negotiations and a 2 state solution while insisting that any violence from the Palestinian side will be countered and preempted. I will also be against any unlawful or uncivilized action by any Israeli against Palestinians.
And yes, most of the blame for violence in Gaza lies with Hamas. To start with, they should accept the Quartet conditions. That will make things 1000 times better for the people of Gaza.
What about the concept of negotiation do you not understand? In negotiations you take care of your own interests, while trying to accommodate as much as you can the interests of the other side. It does not mean you give the other side all they want.
Eee, she is an israeli citizen.
So? Arab Israelis have been pressured to help terrorists, for example giving them rides to the location of attacks.
>> I will also be against any unlawful or uncivilized action by any Israeli against Palestinians.
You’re funny. Well, I certainly look forward to the day you actually start doing that.
>> And yes, most of the blame for violence in Gaza lies with Hamas.
While most of the blame for violence in Israel-Palestine lies with Israel.
As usual, you gloss over that.
>> What about the concept of negotiation do you not understand?
The part where the aggressor, oppressor, thief, colonizer, destroyer and killer gets to continue to aggress, oppress, steal, colonize, destroy and kill even as he claims to be:
i) a sincere partner for peace; and
ii) a victim.
As usual, you gloss over that, too.
You’re quite something. I have no doubt RW appreciates having sturdy co-collectivists like you around to do the dirty work he can’t stomach doing himself.
“So? Arab Israelis have been pressured to help terrorists, for example giving them rides to the location of attacks.”
Well, at least like some of your fellows, you wallow in your racism like a pig in shit. At least you have that going for you, Porky.
Sorry eljay, I sincerely believe that despite many mistakes and despite the messy democratic system that occasionally causes deadlocks and allows influential minorities to prevail that Israel is a true partner for peace. Getting there amid all the pressures is difficult, but hey that is how democracy works.
I do not see myself as a victim. Saying that one is allowed to use self defense does not mean one is a victim. The only way to reach a peaceful solution is via negotiation. And I will not apologize that Israel has a better hand in the negotiations. I am glad it has. For some reason this point irks you the most but it is just a fact and a consequence of the many mistakes the Palestinians and their leadership have made.
and why does Israeli have a better hand because of decades of criminal actions something you refuse to come to terms with.
“Well, at least like some of your fellows, you wallow in your racism like a pig in shit. At least you have that going for you, Porky.”
Yeah right. You want to hold Israeli Jews to impossible and unnatural standards. You are an extremist.
Pjdude,
War is war. I will not try to beautify it. It stinks both when you win and when you lose, but it stinks more when you lose. But the difference between us that I do not see a war for a conserving or creating a Jewish state criminal.
Nope, he wants to hold Zionism to the standard of basic human decency.
Something you LACK.
When an Israeli is killed by a Palestinian, you blame Palestinian society.
When Palestinians are killed by Israelis, you chalk it up to a consequence of war.
Who are you kidding? You have no moral high-ground and no credibility.
Your country is a colonial settler State. Palestinians are the ones being colonized, not Israelis. Palestinian land is being stolen by Israelis, not the other way around. Palestinians are being subjugated by Israelis, not the other way around.
>> Sorry eljay, I sincerely believe that despite many mistakes and despite the messy democratic system that occasionally causes deadlocks and allows influential minorities to prevail that Israel is a true partner for peace.
Of course you do. Because every partner for peace steals territory and ethnically cleanses the local population, then expands its territory, then continues to expand its territory while continuing with its colonization and oppression.
I know, I know – you use “common sense”.
So what does a Palestinian Israeli have to do to be treated like an equal human being in Israel?
I would not have Bernie Madoff as a babysitter.
And of course, the friendship with Israel transcendents time and space. Hence, they are all the same. Caedite eos. Especially those who transferred money to the killers of Fogel family. Madoff, Islamic Jihad, whatever, Middle East types all.
The conclusion is that for money management and babysitting we should choose Filipino maids who are universally trusted.
???
:X
“What about the concept of negotiation do you not understand?”
eee
Negotiation between an dismally week party and an overwhelmingly powerful one is not negotiation. It’s extortion.
He does use commonsense….the sense that is common among his sick, dishonest community.
What about the murderer of the Oshrenko family? A family including a child and infant murdered in the night. She should obviously worry about someone from the same cultural group as that murderer too, huh?
If it happened consistently over a few years, then yes. But it was a one off and I bet it did influence quite a few people about the help they hire, but not the majority. Some people are more risk averse than others.
“Some people are more risk averse than others”
That’s ironic. Most Israelis have no clue about risk.
The risks inherent in running the occupation are not assessed in Israel. The economic collapse that will follow the breakdown of Zionism is going to touch Israelis in a way virtually none will imagine.
Seafoid,
Your generalizations are childish as well as your implied threats. The fact of the matter is that the Israeli economy is by far better than all its neighbors and constantly improving.
Oh, good. I’m glad to hear the economy of Israel is doing so well. They should be able to pay for their own weapons then, eh? Ready to give up all that lovely US Aid that gets transfered every year?
No, what a surprise…
If you don’t like the aid, call your congress person or vote for one that is against giving aid to Israel. You are giving us the money. Why are you complaining about it to me and not to your congress person?
Because right now our Congresspeople are being wined and dined in Israel, eee, so YOU have more access to them than we do?
By your logic, you would stop sleeping with women, because every once in a while, a woman cuts off a man’s penis in his sleep.
By your logic, if 1 in 2 women would cut a man’s penis in his sleep, you would still continue sleeping with women and would soon end without a penis.
What, you got bored justifying child torture on the other thread?
Also, remind us again how you don’t routinely accuse innocent Palestinians of being terrorists. So, what, you’re going to say only half of all Palestinians are terrorists, and that’s supposed to be better?
Typical Chaos. Israelis employ thousands of non-Jews from various countries. In fact, Israel used to employ hundreds of thousands of Palestinians till they decided they were better off with Hamas and terror attacks. Then they complained that their economic situation sucks.
Look up and read eee’s comments. Everybody look up and down this thread and read eee’s comments.
Who’s right? Me, or you?
“The political economy of Israel’s occupation” by Shir Hever covers this topic comprehensively. “Arab” in Israel is synonymous with dirt, poverty , lack of respectability and dishonesty.
Israeli ruled Jerusalem is an apartheid city. The physical environment is designed to minimize contact between Jews and Palestinians. Palestinians are herded into ghettos where contact with Jews is minimal. Israel’s elites are most afraid of contact between the 2 populations. There is no way to keep the hate levels high if Palestinians fall in love with Jews or if they work alongside each other or eat together in restaurants or babysit each others’ kids .
Yes, communal eating together and caring for the children of each would be a threat to Jewish self identity. That may not be allowed to happen.
Best to keep the population fearful….and under control.
“Best to keep the population fearful….and under control”
..and strangle all dissent.
Hever says “More than any economic indicator, the absence of any internal discourse to address the threats to the Israeli economy is the biggest threat of all. It leaves Israelis unequipped to deal with the inevitable consequences of the colonial project which continues to be cultivated in their back yard, with their consent.”
It is going to be an unmitigated disaster for Israel. Karni Eldad’s kids’ generation will hate her and the rest of the preceding generation for the mess they leave them.
Interesting contrast here with American Jews. Almost all the ones I know have housekeepers, always minorities, every one. Never other Jews.
Interesting observation, and it refreshed my memory.
In my childhood, we had a Japanese gardener, a Catholic housekeeper and A german woman came in a do the womens hair…her husband had been in the German army. I never remember the slightest conflict or discussion.
what i find extremely telling is that a woman with these kinds of qualifications is seeking work as a nanny. this society is so twisted.
I don’t think the job market for facilitating conflict resolution between Jews and Palestinians is in great demand in the territories.
she’s from Nazareth. she lives in jerusalem. she’s israeli. what do you mean by ‘the territories’? and why wouldn’t there be a need for conflict resolution? why resolve conflict non violently? is that what you mean? what an absurd statement.
Annie,
It could very well be that her talents are going to waste and as a capitalist I am sad about that. And yes, the second intifada has “twisted” Israeli society in its attitudes to Palestinians. I am a just one example of that. I cannot trust Palestinian society, sorry. I hope I can change in the future but the pictures of Israeli kids dismembered while waiting in line to enter a disco while most Palestinians rejoiced and claimed the perpetrators as heroes is stamped in my mind. It is clear to me that many Palestinians view Israeli Jews the same way. It will take years to build trust.
Israeli society was already murdering Palestinians by the hundreds, if not thousands, BEFORE the Second Intifada. The Intifada was a reaction, not the cause.
We know, the original sin according to you was the founding of Israel.
Considering that founding took place on the backs of five hundred Palestinian villages, and just about HALF the native population driven out of their homes to make room for the so-called “Jewish” state, then yes.
The hands of you and your forefathers are bathed in Palestinian blood, eee, and it shows up very brightly on that white-and-blue flag you cooked up for those of us who have watched what you have done to build your awful, racist police state.
That is also what I found so amazing/telling.
Eldad is a right-wing demagogue, whose columns regularly ooze racism and self-righteousness. “Grappling with her conscience” – yeah, right.
>> “When I asked Aswan how her experience with Eldad affected her as a citizen, she replied: “We face racism and Israeli supremacy on a daily basis, in the smallest details of our daily lives. But this was hard to deal with: I was rejected as a human—but I refuse to see myself as a victim. On the contrary, ELDAD IS THE VICTIM.”<<
That is exactly the point. It is one that Israelis and their avid supporters just don't get, or refuse to accept. This is epitomised by what eee said: "And yes, the second intifada has “twisted” Israeli society in its attitudes to Palestinians. I am a just one example of that."
Israelis are the victim, not of Arabs or what they have done, but of their own Zionism and what it has brought them. End of story.
“‘Moral dilemma’– or how a woman rationalizes rejecting a graduate student as a babysitter on racial basis”
On a “racial” basis? What race would that be please? (And if the racial part of the title is part of the article being quoted, why is it not placed in quotation marks to avoid the implication of the term having been adopted by the contributor?) It’s the kind of standard I’d expect from a website like whiteamerica.us, not Mondoweiss.
It’s something I’ve been meaning to call some commenters and contributors to this blog out for a while now because it’s irking me. The use of the term “racism” and “racist”. Wouldn’t “ethnicism” and “ethnicist” be more appropriate? At least those terms aren’t wrong.
Dictionary.com’s definitions of racism are:
1.) a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
2.) a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3.) hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
Merriam-Webster defines it such:
1.) “A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority over a particular race”
2.) “racial prejudice or discrimination”
The woman displayed an ethnic prejudice, not a racial one.
I’m sick and tired enough of people using terms around the internet such as “the Arab race” (wtf) – talking of “racism” when referring to discrimination against a Palestinian runs along suspiciously similar lines in my mind, same as this classification of the Palestinians under the umbrella term “Arab” does, never mind that a significant percentage of Palestinians don’t even self-identify as “Arab”. Some here might use the term merely to denote a linguistic community, they – from what I’m reading – tend to view the term for what it actually means, and hence may reject it when talking of their personal ancestry and of who they are, I feel this needs to be respected, and appropriate terminology used in order to avoid false implications out of carelessness. I feel there have been enough attempts at obscuring Palestinian culture, history, origins and story already, even without the help from people discussing them on message boards, thoughtlessly tossing around terminology that bears false implications for mere sakes of convenience.
The woman displayed an ethnic prejudice, not a racial one.
ahvee, ethnic prejudice is racial discrimination
Annie, I could link up to plenty of credible sources making a distinction between ethnic prejudice and racial prejudice (I will if you specifically ask for the links, in fact I had about five of them prepared already), but I don’t want to start a source war, I don’t care if in some cases “ethnic prejudice” is defined as meaning the same thing as “racial prejudice” (as the organisation that supplied the definition you linked to does), it’s how these words are commonly defined across the internet and popular media that matters to me more, because those shape people’s opinions more than the definitions in use in some UN conferences.
It’s what people commonly perceive it to mean, and what people think of when they read it that counts, and I hesitate to wager that the majority of people are going to share the very formal and narrowly used- definition of it that you linked to. I strongly suspect the lay reader is also more likely to relate “racial prejudice” to “racism”, and we all know what the common definitions of racism are, that these readers are most likely to look at when in doubt. Seeing as the term is, contested, at best, I still feel it’s reasonable to chose words that allow less room for misconception. Saying “ethnic prejudice” gets the job done, with less wiggle room for racists / ignorants / your average Joe to misunderstand or use certain definitions to feed their hate or to fulfil their “we’re different in every single way to them” whims. Put bluntly I don’t trust a significant part of readership to walk away from reading an article in which “racial prejudice against ___” is being discussed and then *not* think that these people constitute a race that is different to those displaying the “racial prejudice”, or to not notice the implication of this, I just don’t (and I’ve seen the people who have bought into these misconceptions around the internet too often to be swayed considerably in my opinion of this), if you do, you have more faith in humanity than I do.
On a side note, I just have to keep on thinking of the confusion I see around the internet, posts by Palestinians (I read these in English, I don’t speak Arabic, so it’s predominantly diaspora Palestinians who post in English who I read from), asking just what and who they are. Are they a race? “Why am I blond”? (to quote someone who posted on Palestinefamily), where do we come from, and who constitutes us? Those are all questions Palestinians actually do give a damn about, and it makes me just as sad as the way they are treated by Israel and the loss of land they suffered. Stealing someone’s land and mistreating them is one thing, obscuring their identity and history and leaving a number of them with not even a solid idea of their own damn history and identity is another. It makes me mad. I’ve talked with a few Palestinians who subscribe to Tsvi Misinai’s movement, even though he’s a rabid Israel apologist and Zionist. Sounds more like the actions of people who are desperate for (any kind of) certainty to me, and next nobody discussing I / P issues seems to give a damn. Maybe that’s why I trigger easily when stumble across stuff like this, it might be petty, but even seemingly petty things can go a long way.
>> “Stealing someone’s land and mistreating them is one thing, obscuring their identity and history and leaving a number of them with not even a solid idea of their own damn history and identity is another. It makes me mad.” <<
Me too.