The naked racism of ‘Save Jewish Jerusalem’

A few days ago +972 published Mairav Zonszein’s article “Israeli peaceniks release racist video to ‘save Jerusalem”‘. The astounding video has now been enhanced with English subtitles.

It’s challenging comprehending how a group of Israelis, calling themselves “Save Jewish Jerusalem” producing a blatantly bigoted ‘scare’ video with Israeli Jewish actors impersonating violent gun wielding Palestinians decked out in explosives, could construe themselves as being “peace” oriented:

The video mirrors the warnings last month of Save Jewish Jerusalem co-founder Haim Ramon, a former Israeli minister and Knesset member for over 30 years:

“Palestinian demographic threat in Jerusalem…If they decide to vote in the municipal elections, the next mayor will be the grandson of the Mufti,”

How is this any different from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s racist election scare mongering of last March about Arabs coming to the polls “in droves”? It isn’t. Zonszein:

[T]he video, which its creators fashioned as a horror-thriller, revolves around a Palestinian political leader trying to convince a group of militants that the only way to get Jerusalem back is to do exactly what Netanyahu warned about on election day last March: go to the polling stations “in droves.”

What qualifies them as identifying, according to Zonszein, “as part of the Israeli peace camp”, other than perhaps certain members speaking at “Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace” J Street? Not a whole lot as far as I can tell.

Listen to Save Jewish Jerusalem co-founder Ami Ayalon, former head of Israeli Navy and Shin-Bet, dodge Charlie Rose’s queries (at 7:45) about Palestinian relationship to Jerusalem as their capital:

“Arab neighborhoods are the Palestinian capital.”

Hmmm. Does that mean the same 28 neighborhoods his movement wants “excluded” from Jerusalem so that the Old City would transform into “Jewish Jerusalem,” which includes illegal Jewish-only settlements built on Palestinian territory? Zonszein:

Thus the group proposes that East Jerusalem — which is already occupied as far as the world is concerned — be put under direct military occupation. The only difference is that it wants Israel to strip all the Palestinians who live there of their remaining rights, thereby making East Jerusalem just like the West Bank, expanding and entrenching occupation further. It even boasts that such a “disengagement’ would lift the “heavy economic burden on Jerusalem and Israel” by “saving taxpayers an estimated NIS 2 to 3 billion (about $525 to $788 million) per year.

And what about all the Jewish settlements built over the Green Line that have been annexed to the city? They get to stay: “Full sovereignty and municipal unity and uniformity will be in force on all Jewish Jerusalem, including Jewish neighborhoods built after the Six Day War. Jerusalem will also include the Old City, the “Holy Basin” and the original Jerusalem neighborhoods surrounding them.”

Take a look at the full proposal from The Movement For Saving Jewish Jerusalem, and you will see the racism in every clause:

1. Most of the Palestinian Arab villages annexed to Jerusalem in 1967 will be excluded from the sovereign territory of Jerusalem.

2. A continuous Security Fence will immediately be set up between the Arab villages and Jerusalem, separating the Palestinians villages from the Jewish neighborhoods….

3. IDF and other security forces will enter and operate in the villages that have been separated from Jerusalem – just the way they are currently operating in villages and areas of the West Bank.

4. Full sovereignty and municipal unity and uniformity will be in force on all Jewish Jerusalem, including… the Old City, the “Holy Basin” and the original Jerusalem neighborhoods surrounding them.

5. About 200,000 Palestinians will be excluded from the boundaries of Jerusalem. Jews will constitute more than 80% of the total population and the percentage of Palestinians will be reduced to less than 20%, instead of close to 40% today.

6. Israeli Resident Card validity of those 200,000 Palestinians will expire…

7. The Knesset will enact the necessary laws to ensure the security and the Jewish character of the city, according to the above objectives…

They want a democracy; so stripping Palestinians of their citizenship and redefining East Jerusalem by shifting the borders (again) is just fine, logical, and strategic. And Al Aqsa mosque? It’s ensconced in “Jewish Jerusalem” because East Jerusalem — presumably would no longer exist.

What makes these people part of a “peace camp”? Support for 2 states, as Save Jewish Jerusalem co founder Shaul Arieli purports in this J Street video? How does advocating for a Palestinian state that Palestinians would not agree to bring peace? And how does producing demonizing bigoted videos fit into the matrix of peaceful resolutions?

Thanks to Ronnie Barkan and Ofer Neiman.