Re:Israeli Law (Score 1)

Well, I've never lived in Israel, really, and I've never even been to Yesha, so on the matter of practical experience I must respectfully concede to you. I am aware that there is racism in Israeli society. It is not exclusively anti-Arab racism. The racism towards Sefardim and Mizrahim (to say nothing of that shown to Beta Israel) by Ashkenazim is appalling. The rabid hatred of the haredim on the part of chilonim isn't racism proper but is certainly a similar cultural bias which is almost universal throughout secular Israel. The point I'm trying to make (probably poorly) is that Israel struggles with issues of cultural bias like any other modern country. I sincerely doubt there is one that doesn't (Canada does a pretty good job, though). Critically, however, Anti-Arabism or any other caste system, with the possible exception of the Law of Return (which has analogues in many other countries), is not a matter of official Israeli policy. While this fact does not excuse or exclude the prejudices held by society, it is relevant, especially when one compares Israel to surrounding nations. While doing so may seem to be a straw man, in this instance it is not. The differentiating factor is the fervent desire of several powerful nations neighboring Israel to see Israel removed from the map completely. Whether or not this wish includes genocide or merely forced removal is irrelevant. Such open hostility is not tolerated in any other part of the world. Why is tolerated here? When one of the countries in question is the Palestinian Territories, the relevance of the issue to Israeli sociocultural biases becomes clearer. The peoples you describe as being at the lowest rung of the Israeli caste system are not in fact Israeli citizens at all. They are citizens of a state which is openly hostile to the existence of Israel and who, for that matter, does not recognize the existence of Israel as a state at all. Is it really that surprising that citizens of such a state are subject to more thorough scrutiny than others, especially given the steady stream of violent attacks stemming from that state? By the way, don't think that I'm discounting Israeli violence against Arabs - I'm not, and it's just as bad. Still, most Arab countries limit the application of Israeli violence by not allowing anybody with so much as an Israeli stamp on their passport across their borders. Incidentally, as I say, I've never been to the territories, but I find your likening of them to a giant refugee camp somewhat inaccurate. Most refugee camps do not have a multibillion dollar import/export industry, do not show economic growth over the past five years, do not hold free elections, have over 100,000 college students studying within its borders, etc. By the way, I appreciate how civil this discussion has remained. Most of the other threads have disintegrated in to pointless flaming.