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Wave of Jewish racism worries Netanyahu, activists
Jerusalem police said they had arrested a gang of young Jews accused of multiple hate-crime attacks against Arabs, shortly after the publication of a letter signed by dozens of Israeli rabbis, many of them state employees, calling on Jews not to rent or sell property to non-Jews.
“We are a country run by the rule of law, we respect all peoples, whoever they are,” he said. “I insist that citizens of Israel do not take the law into their own hands, not through violence nor through incitement.”
Earlier this month, Israel’s attorney general began investigating whether the rabbis’ letter broke the law against incitement to racism. But despite the investigation and an outpouring of criticism over the letter, right-wing activists planned a rally in support of the rabbis in central Jerusalem Thursday.
Ronit Sela of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel said there was a growing climate sanctioning discrimination, nurtured by the formation almost two years ago of a coalition government embracing the Jewish nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party and the ultra-Orthodox Shas. “We definitely see a connection between these different instances, most of them targeting either Arab citizens or non-Jewish people living in Israel,” she told AFP.
Sela said muted condemnation by those in power, coupled with “racist and xenophobic” declarations by Israeli lawmakers and their promotion of discriminatory legislation, encouraged hatred.
In October, ACRI wrote to Netanyahu and Parliament Speaker Reuven Rivlin warning that legislation including a bill compelling non-Jewish citizens to swear an oath of allegiance to [a Jewish state of] Israel could damage Israeli democracy.
And Israeli-Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi said the current Parliament was “the most racist ever,” claiming its house committee had for months blocked an equal opportunities bill, Israeli news site Ynet said.
In the blue-collar Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam, demonstrators at a “keeping Bat Yam Jewish” protest reportedly called for Jewish women who consort with Arab men to be put to death.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
