Judaism Without Borders

Racism is bad. Racism in Israel is bad. So we should address it. Right?

Last night I attended the social justice-themed “A Taste of Limmud“ and a presentation about racism in Israeli soccer. The Israeli news clip shown was not easy to watch. (A less-intense clip of which you can watch here.) It showed whole stadiums dancing and chanting racist epithets against Ethiopian, foreign and especially Arab players of Israeli soccer teams.

Passed out on song sheets to the tune of a popular Israeli song:

This is the Land of Israel, Toameh. This is the Jewish state. I hate you Salim Toameh, I hate all the Arabs.

Or:

Ibraham, Abdullah, Ibrahaim,
Man, child and old women, we will kill you all

Or:

Death to Arabs!

Towards Ethiopian and African black players, in addition to the hooting of monkey calls:

Dirty black!
Go back to the jungle!

Why bring this up among Diaspora Jews? First of all, because it’s a pressing social issue. But also because it’s an arena in which very significant progress has been made. Since 2004, concerted efforts by the New Israel Fund, Israel’s soccer association, the soccer clubs themselves, and the business sponsors has resulted in a drop in racism displayed at soccer games, as reported in July by the Jerusalem Post. 

Of the fifteen people present at the Limmud session, most of them had really fascinating things to contribute.

An older man in a suit and kipah said he was shocked that the country of the Jews would do such things. He said it reminded him of visiting the American South as a young man in the 60s. 

An African-American convert to Judaism chastized everyone that racism is quite prevelant in American Jewish society, which she suffers on a regular basis. Why the shock, she asked.

An older Labor Zionist woman spoke about visiting Israel in the 60s and being disappointed to hear people dismiss Ethiopian citizens as the garbage men, day laborers and janitorial staff.

But there’s always one person who just can’t hack it. And we had one last night. “I feel you’re just criticizing Israel. What about racism in Europe? It’s worse! And what about the racism of Arabs to Jews!”

The cheif presenter had to honor his opinions, which she did beautifully. But I wanted to roll my eyes and ignore the man. His discomfort increased as the session continued. When someone asked if hate speech was outlawed in Israel, he interrupted and shouted “Of course it is!” The truth, we explained, was that it’s outlawed now.

See, the man has good principles. He’s clearly against racism, supports bans on hate speech, etc. But somewhere his Israel(i) education failed. He couldn’t fathom an Israel that was just like other countries, with problems like racism.

Also, another young man spoke up with misconceptions I was sorry weren’t corrected at the time: He suggested that the huge discrepancies in Arab community funding (half the funding of Jewish schools per capita, 48 of the 61 poorest towns are Arab) are because the Arabs don’t want public funding!

These, I fear, are the primary mental obstacles to doing Israeli social change work here: denial and dodging responsibility. If you can’t explain that a problem exists than how can you explain that some great Israeli activists are doing great work to solve big problems?

Don’t we agree racism is bad? Don’t we agree the Israeli Declaration of Independence aspires to equality for all citizens? Don’t we agree that’s not the case? Don’t we agree Israelis aren’t perfect? (Oops, apparently we don’t, despite the evidence!)

I know many people are beginning to understand that our previous model of Israel-do-no-wrong, Israel-is-a-dreamland education is stunting our people. But damn, it’s been a long time coming.