When White Zionists Take Offence at the question 'Who is a Jew?'

Mark Elf’s Jewsansfrontiere has a nice post pointing out the racism and hypocrisy of the Western Ashkenazi Jews in Israel.  When Shas, a Misrahi Orthodox Party, which is certainly extremely racist, had an election broadcast in which an Arab Jew asked his bride if she were Jewish, all hell broke loose.  This is racism.  Only in Nazi Germany was there an examination of someone’s Jewishness etc. etc..

Of course this is total nonsense.  Israel is founded as a Jewish state, i.e. a state that gives privileges to Jews.  The question the courts and Knesset have had to grapple with from Israel’s inception is ‘Who is a Jew’.  Why is it racist when an Arab Jew asks the question of a white Jew?

Tony Greenstein

 If Shas is racist Israel is racist.... 

 cross post from 

And Shas is racist.

Here's Kobi Niv in Ha'aretz. No, hold on a sec. Check out this post and then read on:

An image from the Shas ad. Photo by Screen shot

Waves of righteous indignation from the stratosphere of Israeli enlightenment were heaped on Shas' innocent election broadcast against fake conversions, which was not just declared benighted and racist, but even Nazi-like, heaven forbid. Why? What was in that video that so incensed the enlightened ones?

All that it showed was a short, not particularly handsome guy of North African origin under the wedding canopy with a beautiful, tall, blonde Russian woman who suddenly discovers that his intended is not Jewish and that her conversion was not done according to Jewish law. True, once again the Mizrahi is portrayed as inferior and stupid, and the Ashkenazi as tall and beautiful, but so what? How does that differ from the usual Israeli racism? What was all the fuss about? What racism did the enlightened ones see here? What Nazism?

African Jews - just above Palestinians on the racial ladder

Perhaps the illuminati saw racism against Russians, Ashkenazim, one of their own? Perhaps they felt that the Russians were presented as too tall and too attractive, or as not Jewish enough? It's possible. But why is presenting Russian immigrants as tall and not necessarily Jewish worse or more racist than presenting Mizrahim as short and not necessarily bright? What's the problem here, really?

It seems that what really sparked the precious dears' outrage was the question the brown groom asked his white bride: "What, you're not Jewish?" This question, this careful examination of the blonde's pedigree, was the straw that broke the progressive camel's back. What would we say, the annointed ones cried, if in any country - some of the real sticklers hinted grossly at Nazi Germany - they would ask the woman, the bride, if she was Jewish or not? And the approved response is, of course, Racism! Shame! Nazism! Disgusting!

But of course, this is the essence of a religious wedding, the only kind permitted by Israeli law, which permits marriage only between people of the same religion. Didn't you, your parents and your children get married this way? Didn't you check before the ceremony whether the other party was Jewish? If so, what was wrong with the campaign ad

Shas ex-leader Aryeh Deri - imprisoned for corruption

The unsurprising explanation came from the heart of the civilized gloom. "If there won't be two states here," warned the sage Amos Oz, "there will be an Arab state here." This is the real danger seen by the so-called left. Not that there will be, God forbid, a racist, benighted, undemocratic state, but that there will be a non-Jewish state, and worse, an Arab state.

So if that's the case, what's the essential difference between Oz and Shas? Why is Oz's racism applauded by the high-minded ones, while Shas' apparent racism is condemned?

The answer is written in white on black. Racism in the eyes of urbane Israel is when Mizrahim, Arabs and all kinds of dark people say not-nice things about European white Ashkenazim. By contrast, when the European white Ashkenazim say terrible things about Mizrahim, Arabs and the other darkies, this is the height of anti-racism and democracy at its best.

One more thing all those cursing the Shas broadcast should consider: It's not just at Shas weddings that the Judaism of the parties is checked out. The existence of the State of Israel and its entire essence are built on this examination. The Law of Return, which is the foundation stone of our country, states that the single criterion for getting citizenship is that those requesting it be Jewish.

Thus, if we say that the Shas party is racist and Nazi, the same must be said of the State of Israel. The ugliness you see in the mirror is your own.

So there we have it. Shas is simply a zionist party restating zionist principles.  Below is an article from the BBC website on the Nazi-like statements of Ovadiah Yosef

Rabbi calls for annihilation of Arabs

former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef Calls for the 'annihilation' of the Arabs

The spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-orthodox Shas party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, has provoked outrage with a sermon calling for the annihilation of Arabs. 

"It is forbidden to be merciful to them. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable," he was quoted as saying in a sermon delivered on Monday to mark the Jewish festival of Passover. 

The Lord shall return the Arabs' deeds on their own heads, waste their seed and exterminate them

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef

Rabbi Yosef is one of the most powerful religious figures in Israel, He is known for his outspoken comments and has in the past referred to the Arabs as "vipers". Through his influence over Shas, Israel's third largest political party, he is also a significant political figure.

 As founder and spiritual leader of the political party Shas, Rabbi Yosef is held in almost saintly regard by hundreds of thousands of Jews of Middle Eastern and North African origin.

The Palestinian Authority has condemned the sermon as racist and is calling on international organisations to treat the rabbi as a war criminal.
 
'Arab terrorists'

Rabbi Yosef said in his sermon that enemies have tried to hurt the Jewish people from the time of the exodus from Egypt to this day.

A person of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's stature must refrain from acrid remarks such as these

Israeli Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit

"The Lord shall return the Arabs' deeds on their own heads, waste their seed and exterminate them, devastate them and vanish them from this world," he said.
Shas spokesman, Yitzhaq Suderi defended the rabbi, saying his remarks referred only to "Arab murderers and terrorists" and not the Arab people as a whole.

'Stirring up hatred'

Palestinian cabinet minister Hassan Asfur urged international civil institutions and human rights organisations to consider Rabbi Yosef a war criminal in future.
The utterances were "a clear call for murder and a political an intellectual terrorism that will lead to military terrorism", he said in remarks reported on Palestinian radio.

He added that no punishment would come from Israel "because its political culture and action are in line with [the rabbi's] racist statements". 

Israeli Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit also condemned the sermon, saying: "A person of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's stature must refrain from acrid remarks such as these."

 And he added: "I suggest that we not learn from the ways of the Palestinians and speak in verbal blows like these."

Salah Tarif, the only Arab cabinet minister in the Israeli government, also criticized Rabbi Yosef, saying "his remarks add nothing but hatred".