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Playing the Trump card in Israel

December 15, 2015 at 3:09 pm

The backlash over US republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s call to ban Muslims from entering America continues to spiral, drawing widespread criticism and condemnation from people and leaders across the globe. From prominent business leaders such as Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg to US presidential candidates, the pushback against Trump’s racism has been loud and strong.

The American politicians denouncing Trump, however, are strong supporters of Israel, a country where many of Trump’s proposals are mainstream policy. Senator Lindsey Graham who called Donald Trump “a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot,” has also said that the pro-Israel community has been “the heart and soul” of his campaign. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called Trump’s remarks “reprehensible”, but she too has been a long-standing supporter of Israel and has said that she is “an emphatic, unwavering supporter of Israel’s safety and security”.

Several Israeli politicians, figures and organisations have also expressed their outrage, so much so that some demanded Trump be barred from entering the Israeli Knesset, or the country as a whole. Israeli Member of the Knesset Michael Rosin started a petition and collected signatures from more than a third of the Israeli parliament requesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemn Trump’s “racist and provocative” remarks and cancel his visit to Israel.

Netanyahu took to Twitter to criticise Trump’s rhetoric, saying he rejected his recent remarks about Muslims, adding: “The State of Israel respects all religions and strictly guarantees the rights of all its citizens.” Shortly after, Trump cancelled his planned trip to Israel and said he was postponing it until after he “become[s] president”.

The hypocrisy of the Israeli condemnation of Trump and his proposals is extraordinary, given that not only is ethno-religious profiling central to Israel’s airport security, but racism and various forms of discrimination against Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians as a whole are standard practice and mainstream policy in Israel and the occupied territories. In fact, The Consulate General of the United States in Jerusalem has made it clear on their website that “those whom Israeli authorities suspect of being of Arab, Middle Eastern, or Muslim origin … may face additional, often time-consuming, and probing questioning by immigration and border authorities, or may even be denied entry into Israel or the West Bank.”

Israel’s immigration laws are controlled by the “Law of Return” and the “Citizenship Law”. The Law of Return grants the automatic and exclusive right of entry and settlement to Jews, while the Citizenship Law determines who qualifies for Israeli citizenship. Jewish Tel Aviv-based immigration lawyer, Ari Rosenberg, said in a briefing paper that the “granting of such status [permanent residency for non-Jews] is at the complete discretion of the Minister of the Interior and is rather rare.”

Furthermore, Israel’s Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law 5763, first passed by the Knesset in 2003, makes citizens of Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip ineligible for residency in Israel, even if they are married to an Israeli citizen. The law was extended in June, forbidding Palestinians married to Israelis from living in Israel, or becoming Israeli citizens. The law was first introduced as a temporary security measure in aimed at preventing “potential terrorists” coming into Israel through marriage in 2003, and was supposed to last for a year only. However, it has been renewed every year since.

Palestinian citizens of Israel are also systematically discriminated against when it comes to housing, land confiscation and redistribution, allocation of resources, education and employment. Discrimination against Palestinians can also be seen in the Jewish-only illegal settlements and dual legal systems in the West Bank, under which Israeli settlers living in the occupied territories are not subject to military or local law as the Palestinians are, but are rather prosecuted according to Israeli law. This dual legal system in a territory not formally annexed by Israel violates the principle of equality before the law as well as the principle of territoriality whereby a single system of law must apply to all persons living in the same territory.

Racist rhetoric is also not uncommon in Israel. To name but a few examples, Likud MK Yaron Mazuz told Arab members of the Knesset they should be grateful for being allowed to be citizens and serve as elected officials, saying: “We’re doing you a favour by letting you sit here.” Ayelet Shaked, Israeli justice minister, referred to all Palestinian children as “little snakes” in a controversial Facebook post, seemingly justifying the mass punishment of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. Education Minister Naftali Bennett suggested that Jews are more evolutionarily advanced than Arabs, saying: “When Palestinians were climbing trees, we already had a Jewish State.” Not to mention Netanyahu’s warning remarks to his supporters on Israeli elections day that Palestinian citizens of Israel, “Arabs”, were voting “in droves”.

Zionism necessitates that Israel preserves a Jewish majority, even at the expense of its non-Jewish citizens and visitors. Israeli leaders who want to ban Trump need to take a deep look at Israel’s inherently racist policies and recognise Palestinians as equals, both in law and in practice. American politicians, Republicans and Democrats, who denounced Trump yet continue to embrace Israel, ignoring its rampant and reverberating history of discrimination, need to also rise above the hypocrisy and take a firm stance against Israel’s racism and discrimination.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.