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Location : Ether-Sphere Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator Humor : Über Serious
| Subject: A night that put Israhell to shame Mon May 28, 2012 6:43 pm | |
| One of the unintended consequences of the Arab revolutions has become evident in Israel, where a surge in the number of refugees from Africa has created new tensions in a country with no shortage of practical and ethical dilemmas.
In the face of the new challenge, a number of Israeli politicians have sunk to the occasion, exploiting raw emotions and fueling a display of violence that should shame Israelis.
...That, however, has not stopped Interior Minister Eli Yishai from tarring migrants as criminals and suggesting that most should be summarily deported.
The country's leaders should seek to calm tensions and find a humane solution to a growing human problem. But responsible, statesman-like behavior is apparently too much to ask.
When the residents of the south Tel Aviv neighborhood of Hatikva held a protest last week, one member of parliament, Miri Regev, referred to Sudanese "infiltrators" as "a cancer," stoking the inexcusable outbreak of violence. (She later apologized for using the term "cancer".) Another member of parliament, Danny Danon, turned up the rhetoric, shouting "Expulsion now!" and calling the migrants "a plague."
While some Israelis expressed sympathy for the protesters, many lashed out against the shocking display of intolerance in Tel Aviv, of all places, a city known for its open-mindedness.
Although no one was seriously injured and the police intervened, arresting 17 people, the language and the behavior would be unacceptable anywhere, but in Israel more than anywhere.
Reuven Rivlin, speaker of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, characterized the event as reminiscent of the early days of World War II, saying the words "remind me of the hate speech aimed against the Jewish people." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared "there is no place for the statements and actions which we saw last night."
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/28/opinion/ghitis-israel-immigrants/index.html |
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