I remember when USA Today founder Al Neuharth pioneered diversity by insisting that graphs and charts in the newspaper that featured cartoon figures should have dark-skinned figures, too, because USA Today needed to reflect America. Here USA Today reporter Michele Chabin extends that tradition in her report on Obama’s speech in Jerusalem last week, and gets at the racism that characterizes all our politicians’ rhetoric on the Israel Palestine conflict:
While Randa Sharkiya, an Arab citizen of Israel studying at Al Qaesmi College in the north of the country, said she was gratified that Obama expressed his support for a Palestinian state, she was offended by the lack of any mention or outreach to Israel’s many minorities.
“The entire speech was Jewish country, Jewish, Jewish Jewish,” said Sharkiya, dressed like her classmates in Islamic headscarves. “All I kept thinking was, ‘What about us?'”
How often must we remind readers that a civil rights discourse that we had in this country in the 50s and 60s has not arrived in Israel, and that our politicians are doing nothing to enable such progress.
I see that the New York Times also reflected Sharkiya’s view of the speech, somewhat, in its coverage of student responses.
“All I kept thinking was, ‘What about us?'”
You are just a second-class-citizen, and not part of the “Volksgemeinschaft”.
It’s interesting reading the NYT’s selection of opinions of young Israelis, both Arab and Jewish, who were preselected to be in the room for Obama’s speech to the Israeli students. Given the institutional ladder rungs to the steps of power in Israel, which are even more rigid than in the USA, I come away with no hope. The way I see it, there will be no real change in Israel’s trajectory without war on Iran, automatic US participation, and Iran’s response against both forces, which will spread across the Middle East, then, ultimately to America’s heartland. Actually, the contemporary war on Iran has been going on a long time now, via former puppet Iraq, then direct economic sanctions, and now, by US support of Syrian rebel forces doing their best to take down Iran’s best ally, the Assad Regime. Irony there, for our CIA involvement with arming the Syrian rebels indirectly, which has been escalating, appears to be arming Al Quaida there. Well, we’ve done that before. Seems Lewis Carrol’s fantasies have nothing on US diplomacy.
It seems we, those cringing for Palestinians, must always grasp, and settle for, the least and last straws. Sharkiya was no exception…. she was the only Palestinian student quoted and only at the very (bitter) end of the article..
Actually, Phil, the NY Times regularly treats Israel as though it were an all-Jewish country.
I thought of this a few days ago when I read the following article by Jodi Rudoren:
Many Israelis Unsure of Obama, but Are Ready to Listen During Visit
The article starts with “Obama administration officials have made it clear that the top agenda item for the president’s visit here this week is to win the hearts of the Israeli people. He has a lot of work to do. . . “. Rudoren goes on to interview about a dozen Jewish Israelis about their views.
Clearly Rudoren doesn’t consider Palestinian citizens of Israel to be part of “the people of Israel”. The fact is, neither does anyone else. Whenever the unqualified term “Israeli” is used, whether in Israel or here, by Jews or non-Jews, it doesn’t include the 24% of the population of Israel that’s Palestinian.
This fact alone gives the lie to the propaganda meme of Israel as a multi-ethnic secular democracy where all citizens are equal.
Racism by omission – a new concept. USA Today reporter Michele Chabin never once mentioned racism.
The one solitary individual cited in support of this non-article seems to be suffering from dissociative amnesia.