Amid the Bigotry, Israel Makes Giant Step Toward Equality
Forget the sideshow about a narrow-minded minister banning a book, the Israeli government did something of historic importance this week and corrected its long-standing discrimination against the Arab community.
Anyone who cares about the future of Jewish-Arab relations in Israel, who views equality as a value in and of itself, and who cares about democracy ought to derive great satisfaction from events of the past week. At the end of three stormy cabinet meetings, a vote was cast in favor of a decision whose like hasn’t been seen since the days of the Yitzhak Rabin government in the 1990s: a significant change in the way the budgetary pie is divided between the Jewish and Arab communities. We’re not talking about a one-time grant or ad hoc amendment of the budget. This is a change in the allocation mechanism itself, which constitutes a giant step toward correcting the long-standing discrimination against Israel’s Arab citizens....
...But while Habayit Hayehudi was barricading itself behind exilic, nationalist fears and the left was barricading itself behind hysteria about the rise of an imaginary fascism, outside, in the real world, the government of Israel took a giant step toward advancing equality and democracy. This step was statesmanlike and moral, humane and pragmatic.
The ministers who promoted this decision, headed by Moshe Kahlon and Gila Gamliel, would be well advised to ignore the impassioned tribal bonfires that are burning at both extremes, and continue to strive fearlessly for equality between Jews and Arabs in Israel. The government deserves much praise for a decision that Gamliel rightly termed “a historic step.”
more...
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.695088?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook
= new reply since forum marked as read
