Arab educators: Forcing national anthem is like rape

[Donald Ian Rankin]

http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3750981,00.html

'Anthem kit' distributed to schools throughout country in new Education Ministry initiative to create identification and commitment to its values opposed by Arab education committee: 'Attempt at raping students' identity'

The Ministry of Education launched "national anthem kits" this week to be distributed to schools throughout the country in a bid to arouse involvement and commitment to Israel's national anthem and its values among students. Arab educators, however, are up in arms about the initiative, calling it "rape."

"Forcing the anthem on Arab students is a kind of rape," said chairwoman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee's education committee, Dr. Hala Asfanyuli, on Wednesday.

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"If there is an attempt to force the Tikva anthem on Arab schools and Arab pupils, it will akin to a kind of attempted rape of their identity," she continued.

The new Education Ministry program, launched last week in a festive ceremony, seeks to examine the various aspects of Israel's national anthem, Hativka, be they historical, literary, or musical. The program also offers students options to do their final projects on the subject. The goal of the program is to arouse empathy and commitment to the anthem and its values.

The kit is comprised of a book and two CDs of 40 rare historic recordings of the anthem ranging from concentration camps to the declaration of the state, from concert halls to local rock clubs, from Barbra Streisand to Israeli rap group Subliminal.

In a letter to Education Minister Gideon Saar, the Arab education committee wrote, "We are strongly opposed to such initiatives that do not have any benefit and only deepen the alienation of Arab students and teachers.

"We call upon the ministry and the honorable minister to respect the cultural and national uniqueness of 25% of the students in the country, and their right to education befitting the reality of their lives both as citizens of the state and as part of the Arab Palestinian people."

The Education Ministry has yet to issue a response to the letter

[Ilsa]

1. I had to look up the anthem:

Hatikva - English Lyrics
As long as deep in the heart,
The soul of a Jew yearns,
And forward to the East
To Zion, an eye looks
Our hope will not be lost,
The hope of two thousand years,
To be a free nation in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

[azurnoir]

2. It seems that the Israeli government is quite purposefully

trying to "inflame" Israeli-Arabs-why?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

6. Because it plays well with the Jewish Israeli electorate, I suspect.

At the moment, there is an incredible amount of anti-arab feeling and outright racism in Israel; deliberately antagonising the arabs is a good way to win votes.

[Violet_Crumble]

3. It's a pretty fucked up excuse for a national anthem and I'd have problems with it if it were mine..

How can a national anthem be an anthem for the nation if it's about one ethnic/cultural/religious group and exludes others? A national anthem shouldn't be about Jews or Arabs or any other group. It should be about Israelis....

[Donald Ian Rankin]

4. As a Briton, I'm slightly in a glass house...

But a) comparing English-scots hostility to Israeli/Palestinian hostility it laughable, and b) no-one forces schoolchildren to sing the British national anthem, and indeed very few of us know more than the first verse...

On edit: also, crucially, it appears that the verse I'm thinking of has been removed, making the whole point even more academic...

[LeftishBrit]

5. I was thinking of the same thing!

'Frustrate their knavish tricks!', etc.

'comparing English-Scots hostility to Israeli/Palestinian hostility it laughable'

True now - but at the time when the anthem was composed, it was pretty extreme.

[shaayecanaan]

7. When gallant Cook left Albion's shores

to trace wide oceans o'er
True British courage bore him on
until he reached our shore,
and there he raised the Union Jack
the Standard of the Brave
"for all her faults, we love her still,
Brittania rules the wave"
In golden strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.


This was the original second verse of the anthem - since removed. Not many remember it.

[Ken Burch]

8. And, of course, the original verses of "The Maple Leaf Forever"

Canada's unofficial national anthem for many years, that were largely devoted to gloating about General Wolfe's victory over the French forces on the Plains of Abraham. The lyrics were, and were likely intended to be, a standing insult to Quebecers.

Or imagine what it would be like to be a child in the Powhatan, Abenaki, Pequot, Haudenosaunee, Susquehannock, Delaware nations and have to sing the words "Land Of The Pilgrims Pride" every day in the white man's school.

[Ken Burch]

9. Interestingly enough, one of the bases for "God Save The King"

was "Grand Dieu Sauve Le Roi", written by Jean-Baptiste Lully to celebrate the recovery of King Louis XIV from an anal fistula.