MK Ariel: Arabs should be urged to willingly emigrate from Israel

[subsuelo]

MK Uri Ariel on Sunday called on the government to encourage Israeli Arabs to "willingly emigrate" from Israel and from large cities within it, so as to solve the problematic situation of the country's minorities.

The National Union MK made a speech during a first-of-its-kind conference dealing with the issue of Israel's minorities as well as with "the creeping Arab occupation", and said "the issue of Arabs living within the State of Israel should be addressed."

Ariel, who serves as faction chair, welcomed the conference's initiative and said it marked "the beginning of a process in which participants acknowledge the problem, before possible solutions are implemented."

Ariel added that "positive signs can already be seen in the presence of core Jewish groups that stabilize the situation in cities and help prevent the drain of the Jewish community."

Haaretz - read more

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Wouldn't that kinda be like telling Commanches and Navahos, etc.

to "willingly emigrate" and leave their tribal land in the United States they've claimed for millenia?

Oh, wait a minute . . .

[madrchsod]

2. all Abraham`s children have guns......

[LeftishBrit]

3. He is a nutcase from a party that would make Netanyahu look left-wing by comparison

Apart from all the other things wrong with this statement, *where* does he expect the Israeli Arabs to go 'willingly'? And why should they? They're just as much citizens as he is.

Very reminiscent of the attitudes of the BNP and other far-right Europaean parties.

[Howardx]

5. its always a "nutcase"

im finding it increasingly hard to believe that.

[LeftishBrit]

12. This is not a member of Kadima or even the Likud, but of a more RW party.

So no, he is not a member of the government or of a truly mainstream party. However, he is in the Knesset, which is a bad thing, and in part the consequence of the PR system there meaning that small parties, some of which are revolting, get too much representation IMO.

This doesn't mean that there aren't some nasty right-wingers more in the mainstream; but this is a minority-party member.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

4. The question is: what % of Jewish Israelis would agree with that sentiment? nt

[azurnoir]

11. According to a poll taken of Israeli Jews

"A poll by the group showed most Israelis would not be willing to accept an Arab neighbor, half of the public would not be willing to receive an Arab visitor in their home, and 40 percent believe that the State should encourage Arabs to emigrate from the country."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3231048,00.html

[LeftishBrit]

13. Pretty shocking, but less than the 50% of British people who think that immigrants should be

encouraged to leave (according to a recent poll here).

Xenophobia and racism are big problems in most places.

Increasing contact between Israeli Jews and Arabs, especially among children and young people might go some way to combatting this.

[msmcghee]

14. Please edit and expand on that first sentence. Thanks n/t

[LeftishBrit]

15. Here is the report on British attitudes

http://www.24dash.com/news/Housing/2008-04-18-Half-UK-population-want-immigrants-to-leave

Another report includes a few positives among all the negatives:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1993597.stm

[msmcghee]

16. Wow! Thanks for that. n/t

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[Adsos Letter]

9. They were pressured to emigrate prior to that...

I never made the comparison with the genocide...you jumped to that one...

[oberliner]

10. Nazi comparisons are popular these days, it seems

There have been several such references in the past few days here.

[AnnieBW]

7. Yeah, we could put them all in refugee camps in Jordan

and Lebanon... because that worked so well the last time. :banghead:

[Boojatta]

17. What if the OP were combined with urging Jews to voluntarily emigrate from Israel?

Surely nobody will claim that Israel/Palestine is an underpopulated territory that needs more people to avoid becoming like a country of ghost towns.

A first thought is that Vatican City could use some of its income to buy land adjacent to Vatican City, expanding its jurisdiction, and then encourage Israeli Jews to emigrate from Israel to Vatican City. I presume that the Roman Catholic Church recognizes that in its long history there have been times when it did things that deliberately or negligently made life difficult for Jews. Maybe the Roman Catholic Church could try to make amends with a small, but real gesture that also would have symbolic significance.

Switzerland might also be a good destination.