{"id":3955,"date":"2014-02-25T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T07:30:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2024-12-14T18:58:38","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T16:58:38","slug":"epalestine-knesset-passes-billanyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/2014\/02\/epalestine-knesset-passes-billanyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Knesset passes bill…Anyone surprised? Racism at its best!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis is an important historic move that can balance Israel and bring us closer to the Christians, and I am careful not to call them Arabs, because they\u2019re not Arabs.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Haaretz<\/p>\n

Knesset passes bill distinguishing between Muslim and Christian Arabs<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Critics slam law as effort to ‘divide and conquer’ Israeli Arab population.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Jonathan Lis<\/p>\n

Feb. 25, 2014<\/p>\n

The Knesset on Monday passed a controversial bill into law that distinguishes between Muslim and Christian Arab citizens for the first time and increases the involvement of Christians in Israeli society.<\/p>\n

The bill, which passed its second and third readings on Monday, was sponsored by coalition chairman MK Yariv Levin (Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu). Critics slammed the law as an effort to \u201cdivide and conquer\u201d Israel\u2019s Arab population \u2013 an allegation Levin seemed to confirm in a recent interview with the newspaper Maariv.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an important historic move that can balance Israel and bring us closer to the Christians, and I am careful not to call them Arabs, because they\u2019re not Arabs.” He added that Christians \u201care our natural allies, a counter-balance against the Muslims who want to destroy the state from within.\u201d<\/p>\n

The law will have a minor impact on the makeup of the advisory committee that is appointed under the Equal Employment Opportunities Law, expanding it from five representatives of groups that promote workers\u2019 rights under the law, to 10 members, which will include representatives of Christian, Muslim, Druze and Circassian employment groups.<\/p>\n

The law passed 31-6 even though Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner Tziona Koenig-Yair had made it clear in a committee discussion of the bill two weeks ago that she opposed it and viewed it as superfluous, \u201cin the same way I wouldn\u2019t be interested in separate representation for Lithuanian Haredim and [Sephardi] Haredim,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat\u2019s more, there are no groups promoting employment for different groups in the Arab population, only for the Arab population as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haim Katz, chairman of the Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee, introduced the law in the plenum on Monday, saying, \u201cThe aim is to take care of populations that have a hard time in the labor market and to give them a representation on the advisory committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

But opposition MKs weren\u2019t convinced, \u201cPerhaps we should also divide the Jewish population into Poles, Yemenites and Moroccans?\u201d asked Meretz chairwoman Zahava Gal-On. Meretz MK Issawi Freij added, \u201cWe are essentially in a situation where they are trying to define the state by religions, and here they are trying to say that there\u2019s a difference between Muslim Arabs and Christian Arabs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The law passed after several weeks of charged Labor Committee debates. During the last debate two weeks ago, Balad chairman MK Jamal Zahalka criticized Levin. \u201cArab rights don\u2019t interest Yariv Levin,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no specific Christian or Druze employment problem, only a problem of the general Arab population. Levin is interested in cruelly dividing the Arab public, which is oppressed as it is. We will not be his lackeys.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Levin, \u201cChristians can be directors of government companies, they will get separate representation in the local authorities, they will get equal employment opportunities. The first law I will pass will give Christians representation on the advisory committee to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levin added, \u201cWe and the Christians have a lot in common. They\u2019re our natural allies, a counterweight to the Muslims that want to destroy the country from within. On the other hand, there\u2019s a message here. We will use an iron hand and demonstrate zero tolerance of Arabs who tend to identify with the terror of the Palestinian state.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOURCE: http:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/news\/national\/.premium-1.576247<\/a><\/p>\n

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epalestine<\/span>-subscribe@lists.riseup.net<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis is an important historic move that can balance Israel and bring us closer to the Christians, and I am careful not to call them Arabs, because they\u2019re not Arabs.” Haaretz Knesset passes bill distinguishing between Muslim and Christian Arabs Critics slam law as effort to ‘divide and conquer’ Israeli Arab population. By Jonathan Lis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[88,489,362,694,695,985],"ppma_author":[936],"class_list":["post-3955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-christian","tag-discrimination","tag-israeli-knesset","tag-law","tag-muslim","tag-racism"],"authors":[{"term_id":936,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"sambahour","display_name":"Sam Bahour","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bca109c333bf6d8ae807746dd512adde46265d37c923f6cd0fc4aab437f8e9aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"1","first_name":"Sam","last_name":"Bahour","user_url":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour","job_title":"","description":"

Sam Bahour<\/strong> is a Palestinian-American business consultant, writer, and commentator based in Al-Bireh\/Ramallah, Palestine. He is the principal of Applied Information Management (AIM)<\/a>, a consultancy specializing in business development and startup advisory services.<\/p>\r\n

Bahour played a foundational role in establishing two of Palestine\u2019s publicly traded companies: the Palestine Telecommunications Company (PALTEL) and the Arab Palestinian Shopping Centers (APSC). He co-founded Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy (A4VPE), of which he is now an emeritus member, and served as an independent director on the board of Arab Islamic Bank P.L.C. from 2004 to 2025. He currently serves on the board of Just Vision<\/a> and The Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS)<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

He frequently gives talks to delegations visiting Palestine on the subjects of Palestine\u2019s political economy, Palestinian Politics 101, and a general orientation to the state of affairs under Israeli military occupation.<\/p>\r\n

A prolific writer on Palestinian affairs, Bahour has been published in major international outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, Haaretz, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera America, Le Monde diplomatique, Al-Monitor, +972 Magazine, The Hill, and Arab News. He has appeared as a commentator on NPR, CNN, BBC, and other broadcast media.<\/p>\r\n

Bahour is the co-editor of Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians<\/a><\/em> (Olive Branch Press, 1993) and was profiled in the bestselling anthology Kingdom of Olives and Ash<\/a><\/em>, edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, in a chapter authored by Chabon titled \u201cThe Tallest Man in Ramallah<\/a>.\u201d He holds an Associate\u2019s and Bachelor\u2019s degree in Computer Technology from Youngstown State University, and a Kellogg-Recanati International Executive MBA \u2014 a joint program of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University.<\/p>\r\n

He tweets at @SamBahour<\/a>, blogs at www.epalestine.ps<\/a>, and may be reached at sbahour[AT]gmail[DOT]com.<\/p>"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3955"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}