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Israel passes law denying naturalization to Palestinian spouses

reuters.com

551–560 of 735 posts

Re: Israel passes law denying naturalization to Palestinian spouses

#551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is the West planning to use it as a launchpad for a war of aggression in the region? Pretty sure this was the reason. It’s a tactical piece that they want to keep control over. Everyone else in the region hates them (and rightfully so).

Considering Israel does not, and never has allowed American forces to be stationed inside Israel, this seems pretty unlikely.

They will do what we want when it matters. Even better that their people die in our service than ours.

Re: Israel passes law denying naturalization to Palestinian spouses

#552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not useful analysis.

It is useful. Regardless of the virtue - or strong lack thereof - of the new law, the current headline here is misleading about what was actually passed.

I disagree that the current headline is misleading. If the substance of the article does not justify the headline in your view that's fine, but understand that most families consider being forced to remain separated to be a prohibition on being a family.

Re: Israel passes law denying naturalization to Palestinian spouses

#553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel is surrounded by Arab Muslims who outnumber Jews 100:1 and are overtly hostile to Judaism, as prescribed by their religion. I ask honestly, is it really so wrong for a nation to implement laws to preserve its culture, particularly when it's people constitute a tiny fraction of the global population? Or is support of cultural preservation only virtuous when the alternative is labeled "gentrification"?

> and are overtly hostile to Judaism, as prescribed by their religion As a biracial Jew from Pakistan I can assure you this is false. The modern enmity between Jews and Muslims began around the time of Israel's creation [1]. As far as 'preserving culture', this sounds a little to close to the Fourteen Words for my comfort. You can celebrate and keep alive one's own culture without the exclusion and denial of rights t…

>I think the idea of ethnostates run counter to the core values of most modern, liberal democracies.

But not to the core values of middle eastern Arab countries, which is the point to limiting the possibility of a sizeable proportion of immigrants imposing their incompatible culture onto host nations.

>As far as 'preserving culture', this sounds a little to close to the Fourteen Words for my comfort.

There is no reason to presume that the values of your "modern, liberal democracies" will be maintained if there is no effort to preserve them. The rest of the world is far less concerned with your ideas regarding women's or LGBT rights. Allusions to the fourteen words are effectively a false equivalence, there is a massive range between maintaining a liberal way of life and going on a multinational genocidal war campaign.

>As a biracial Jew from Pakistan I can assure you this is false. The modern enmity between Jews and Muslims began around the time of Israel's creation [1].

The enmity is baked into the Koran and therefore approximately as old as Islam.

Re: Israel passes law denying naturalization to Palestinian spouses

#554
post #19

It's certainly interesting how an oppressed people became the oppressor.

An oppressed people - the Jews, have become oppressors? This comment doesn't even attempt to draw the distinction between the government of Israel and the Jewish people. How would it feel if we said “The formerly oppressed Hispanic people have become the oppressors”, because one country in Central or South America has an oppressive government at some point? There isn’t even recognition that the Israeli legislature mi…

Replace the word "Israeli" with "Russian" and its the reality of western consensus.

To change the regime, do it by suffering the people?

Re: Israel passes law denying naturalization to Palestinian spouses

#555

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Ukraine passes law barring spouses who are from Russia from becoming citizens” Seems fine to me.

A third of Ukrainians speak Russian as a first language. That really sounds fine to you?

My family is from Ukraine and I speak Russian as a first language, and do not know Ukrainian, and yes it seems fine to me. I’m not a huge fan of Ukrainian nationalists but I’m cognizant that Russia is trying to wipe Ukraine out and they are trying to assert their statehood.

Re: Israel passes law denying naturalization to Palestinian spouses

#556

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Israel was not built by its founders to be a melting pot, it was built as a home for displaced Jewish people. It was not built to be a place of equality, and unfortunately, by its nature it cannot be one and continue to serve its purpose. If you think that purpose is racist, you are entitled to that opinion... Not really, because according the IHRA espousing such a view is antisemitic[0]. [0] https://www.holocaustr…

I don't agree that there is anything fundamentally antisemitic about criticizing Israel or its policies. While I think some antisemitic people hold that viewpoint, there is plenty of valid criticism for the actions of the Israeli government and its military. Sometimes, saying criticism of Israel is antisemitic is just a way of shutting down someone who is giving criticism, though, conversely I will also say that it's…

Thanks for your reasonable reply.

I get that Israel's military actions and discriminatory policies are motivated from a sense of insecurity. And I certainly agree that the stomach-churning horror of the holocaust is crucial historical context.

> they do say at the top of the article it's a "Non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism,"

Nevertheless, it has been broadly recognised by many organisations and political groups. The IHRA website lists[1] adoption by various governments including, for example, by executive order of the US President[2].

Despite the historical context, as a secularist and anti-racist I think that explicitly trying to maintain a "Jewish state" in opposition to local demographic trends probably is a racist endeavor. At the very least I think there's a reasonable argument to be made, and to people brand who think so as antisemites is pretty chilling.

But it doesn't sound like you disagree.

[1] https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-defin... [2] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/12/16/2019-27...

Re: Israel passes law denying naturalization to Palestinian spouses

#557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel is surrounded by Arab Muslims who outnumber Jews 100:1 and are overtly hostile to Judaism, as prescribed by their religion. I ask honestly, is it really so wrong for a nation to implement laws to preserve its culture, particularly when it's people constitute a tiny fraction of the global population? Or is support of cultural preservation only virtuous when the alternative is labeled "gentrification"?

> and are overtly hostile to Judaism, as prescribed by their religion As a biracial Jew from Pakistan I can assure you this is false. The modern enmity between Jews and Muslims began around the time of Israel's creation [1]. As far as 'preserving culture', this sounds a little to close to the Fourteen Words for my comfort. You can celebrate and keep alive one's own culture without the exclusion and denial of rights t…

Nonsense. There are no end of examples of Muslim anti-semitism before the foundation of Israel. Just one example, the Grand Mufti of Palestine, Haj Amin al-Husseini, was a strong supporter of Hitler who frequently repeated the blood libel in his writing.

Re: Israel passes law denying naturalization to Palestinian spouses

#558

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It targets people who sleep under bridges. If, for example, there is a major safety hazard associated with sleeping under bridges, it would make sense to prohibit it, and it would be bizarre to criticize the law just because it affects mostly homeless people. If, on the other hand, the law prohibits only homeless people from sleeping under bridges, it becomes clear that the intent is discriminatory, and this becomes…

“There’s no need to shirk from the essence of this law. It is one of the tools to ensure a Jewish majority in Israel, which is the nation-state of the Jewish people. Our goal is for there to be a Jewish majority,” Lapid tweeted shortly before the law lapsed in early July. [0] [0] https://www.timesofisrael.com/months-after-citizenship-law-f...

Yes — discussing the actual motivations for the law, as provided to us by Israeli politicians and previous Supreme Court decisions, is a good and valid starting point for discussion. Claiming that the law is bad simply because it disproportionally affects some subset of the Israeli population, is not. The argument I was addressing in this particular subthread is the latter, not the former.

Re: Israel passes law denying naturalization to Palestinian spouses

#559

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Israel was an ally they would be helping to supply weapons and armor to Ukraine. Instead they will not supply anything more than medication. The US gives Israel plenty of military $ for them to share in times of need. As a strictly emotional thought, this makes me feel Israel is a country to cozy up to the strongest nation at the time. If the US falls from grace Israel will have no problem ‘switching’ sides to Rus…

By that yard stick many countries would no longer count as allys. Mexico for example.

I understand you are mentioning many countries. But to touch just on Mexico. Personally, I do not believe Mexico to be an ally. Mexico seems to be a narco state that is largely run by cartel sponsored politicians.

Re: Israel passes law denying naturalization to Palestinian spouses

#560
post #367
post #352

The parallels to the Jim Crow South and its borderline hysterical obsession with managing the ethno-racial balance are very strong.

Israel would cease to exist if there was no Jewish majority anymore. Just one more Arab country instead. Would you be ok with that?

If the "national vision" can only be realized by oppression maybe there is something wrong with it.
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