We recently discussed the concern over the criminalization of speech in Israel. Now there is an added concern after Israel’s Education Ministry disqualified Dorit Rabinyan’s award winning “Gader Haya” (literally “Hedgegrow,” but known in English as “Borderline”)from being used in high schools. The reason? The novel describes a love story between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man. The Education Ministry decided that the novel threatened “the identity and the heritage of students in every sector,” and the belief that “intimate relations between Jews and non-Jews threatens the separate identity.”
It is a truly disappointing decision from a nation founded by people who survived book burning and censorship laws. The Education Ministry insisted that “young people of adolescent age don’t have the systemic view that includes considerations involving maintaining the national-ethnic identity of the people and the significance of miscegenation.” Wow. Miscegenation?
Recently published in Hebrew by Am Oved about a year and a half ago, the novel tells the story of Liat, an Israeli translator, and Hilmi, a Palestinian artist, who fall in love in New York. The couple eventually moves back to Tel Aviv and the West Bank city of Ramallah. It is now the romance that the Education Ministry dares not speak its name.
The decision reverses the view of a professional committee headed by Prof. Rafi Weichert from the University of Haifa and including academics, Education Ministry representatives and career teachers. The panel recommended the use of the book. The panel’s role is to advise the ministry on various educational issues, including approval of curriculum.
I have long admired Israeli educational standards and its remarkable educational system. It is therefore particularly disappointing to see such anti-intellectual and intolerant views emerge over the assignment of such books. It is ignorance and intolerance that threatens Israel not concepts considered by some to be offensive like miscegenation.
Ironically, the effort to block the book has led to a surge in sales in Israel.
Source: New York Times
And to answer the question about religion, indeed both my parents shared Catholicism. But, in my very ethnic, blue collar home town, each ethnicity had their own church. Italians went to St. Anthony, Irish to St. Joseph, Polish to St. Stanislaus, and French Canadian to St. Ann. My parents got married in St. Joseph. The only time one ethnic group would be in another ethnic group’s church were for wedding, funerals, and baptisms.
bam, Good comment. My pointing out my parents marriage was not based upon anything you said. In large part, we agree. I was playing off the comment from our resident anti-Semite, who you eviscerated w/ a very good comment. My apologies for any misunderstanding. My not speaking her name can make it confusing @ times.
Nick
You seem to miss my point. Your Irish mother and your Italian father may have come from vastly different cultures and ethnic groups, which I can only assume caused somewhat of an uproar, decades ago, when they decided to marry, but there was a singular and indisputable common bond which connected them–both, I can only assume, were Catholics. One, Irish, one Italian, but both, Catholic. That’s what this article is about. As I mentioned previously, if, fir example, the rate of intermarriage for Catholics, marrying outside of their faith, hovered between 58 percent and 71 percent, would you actually be surprised to learn that a Catholic school, responsible for the religious and secular indoctrination of its students, chose to discard a book from its curriculum that appeared to encourage or support the very intermarriage that threatens to destroy future generations of Catholics? Most people wouldn’t be surprised or shocked. Why? Because that’s not racist, no matter how anyone chooses to spin it. That’s not the same as widely disseminating school books that call Jews apes, pigs and monkeys. That’s not the same as printing school books that encourage children in elementary school to kill all Jews. The schools and our homes have a short window in which to impart certain values–what individuals take away from those two will impact them forever. Just like the Catholic Church has an interest in continuing to foster and encourage its flock to maintain its faith, a Jewish state of Israel also has an interest in educating its population in a manner which serves to promote the continuation of its people. The two are very similar, yet the similarity is being lost on many who equate the exclusion of this book with racism.
South Africa would have been proud… thirty years ago.
bam, Anyone w/ even a little knowledge knows that all cultures, to varying degrees, have been bigots regarding interracial and inter ethnic marriage. Hell, in 1950, my Italian father married my Irish mother. That was taboo @ the time. The wedding photos show a palpable displeasure among the older generation. However, my mom’s brothers all knew and liked my old man since they were kids. They also knew his father and brothers, since my dad’s family owned a restaurant in town. So, among the younger generation, you could see laughter, joy and love in those same photos. That’s the way it usually works.
Chris Rock does a hilarious bit on this. He says, “Be careful who you hate, because good chance your daughter will marry one. You hate Puerto Ricans, be ready for the day you hear, ‘Hey Dad, meet my fiance Carlos!’ Someone might hear the words, “Father, meet Abraham, my fiance.” LOL!
Mind you, the above-referenced argument, posted at 10:34 am, is being espoused by one whose Muslim brethren routinely, across the Middle East, have brutally and barbarically sought to wipe out, with a vengeance, any and all who are not Muslims. Look no further than the scores of Yazidi individuals, where the Yazidi men have been murdered, en masse, and the women and girls, kidnapped, taken hostage and brutally raped for a single and sickening purpose–to destroy all traces of an ancient people and culture by forcing its women to give birth to babies inseminated by these Muslim barbarians. A very common tactic employed by these savages to destroy and obliterate their enemy through forced capture and rape, ensuring the liquidation of a people. That is ethnic and religious genocide, pure and simple, which, quite typically, is ignored by our resident Muslim and apologist for all that is inhumane and despicable in the Muslim world. At what target, you may ask, does he aim his ire and ever abundant source of venom? Why, at Israel, of course, whose only, singular crime, in this particular article, is to dare to exclude a book from an educational curriculum which appears to promote intermarriage in a society plagued by that very intermarriage threatening the survival of its people. No intention to wipe out another population, no kidnapping, no raping–an attempt, however feeble it may be, in trying to keep a religion and a people intact, where the rate of intermarriage is skyrocketing. As the famous quote goes, is that all you got? There is a huge difference between the two above-referenced examples, which, not surprisingly, is ignored and somehow equated by those intent on vilifying the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Trying to maintain and promote a religious and/or cultural identity, through an educational curriculum, is not equivalent to or on the same plane as the purposeful destruction of others. Let’s talk about the children’s books, rampant across the Middle East in Muslim schools, which call Jews descendants of pigs and apes, shall we? No? Why not? Because we hold these Muslim subhumans to a far, far lower standard than the one imposed upon all other civilized human beings? Let’s chat about the school books, prevalent in Muslim schools, which indoctrinate the very young to murder and kill in the name of Allah, all Jews, wherever they may be. No? That’s right. Let’s stick with Israel, whose audacity to exclude a book in a curriculum about intermarriage is deemed to be criminal and racist. That’s more fun.
One must ask, why was interracial marriage frowned upon in the US, in Nazi Germany and in South Africa?
In each there was a dominant, purer ethnic group adamant in keeping their bloodline from being tainted by the other.
There is your answer.
To also frame this solely in terms of religion is deceptive, as a great portion of Israeli society is NOT religious, nor are most of its political leaders religious.
And let’s remember that such frowning on marriage between Palestinians and Jews was also present between immigrant/white Jews and native Jews.
So banning a book that speaks of inter-ethnic/religious liaison reflects a political and social aim, a racist one that deems one people better, purer than the the other. We cannot remove the banning of the book from its context, one where those same political leaders and their religious allies routinely call for the massacre of Palestinians and call them subhuman.
That simple.
And anyone attempting to justify it, however illogically and emotionally, is clearly arguing in favor of bigotry.
Olly
The facts are, regardless of whose side one is on and it does come down to sides eventually, that Israel created the problem by creating Israel. Israel may take some licks. The Palestinians may be screwed up. However, without Israel there would be no problem, of this sort, there. The facts also are that Israel is in the driver’s seat, the cat bird seat, in control. They can and do do what they will. Their intention is to, by attrition, take over the West Bank and perhaps even Gaza, eventually. The Facts that they keep building settlements is proof enough. Israel is a Jewish state and the Jews are perhaps the most patient and resilient people in existence, perhaps of all time. They are in the position to wait out the Palestinians. The Palestinians through their frustration are their own worst enemy. It is somewhat inevitable.
You can be pro or anti Israel. However, they did create the problem and do run things. A fairly appropriate analogy is the ‘Taming of the West’. Regardless of how one sees it, the problems between the European settlers and American settlers and the indigenous peoples of the West, regardless of savagery and who started it, was the coming to the West of the Europeans and Americans.
The winners write the histories and print the news. I am no fan of the Islamic types who believe that they have a divine right. I am neither a fan of the Jewish types who believe they have a divine right. I just see it through historical events. If, after WW2, as some suggested, the Jews were given a homeland in Poland or thereabouts, this problem would not exist. Other problems would exist; but not this one. Israel was created due to the predominant Judeo Christian powers of the time and their guilt. It was also a very convenient place to park the problem as opposed to right back in the cauldron from which it came, which was seething with pointed fingers at the time.
Drop the taking of sides and then view the issues.
There is a Catholic grade school up the street here which refuses to accept or put on the library shelf a book about pedophile priests. There are some local priests of that persuasion so some kids put photographs of the pedophile priests onto toilet paper and distributed in all the restrooms.
Be careful out there.
“It would seem that given the fact that Israel is responsible for the mess and is in control of the mess, they would feel inclined to layer in some soft solutions, such as cross fertilizing the people before they get to killing each other.”
Standard progressive fare. Remove responsibility from one side and you have instant victims. Mix in some social engineering and you have the some of the worst ideas that have come out of that cesspool of an ideology.
It seems fascism is endemic in all Education Industries worldwide. Free thinking is on the endangered list.
Turley has an obsession with ideological freedoms in this perverse and tainted world. That is a good thing in some respects as our ideologies design our realities. In this case, Israel is following the Palestinian’s way of getting to the kids early. It would seem that given the fact that Israel is responsible for the mess and is in control of the mess, they would feel inclined to layer in some soft solutions, such as cross fertilizing the people before they get to killing each other. It seems, however, that the seeds of what is found in the Palestinian’s schools that produce kids waving guns and death to Israel signs are to be found in the school system of the oppressor, Israel, albeit in a much more subtle manner. But they run the show and can afford to be subtle.
I remember in the 60’s and 70’s the so called progressive yet realistic whites and blacks being all for equality but not so much for inter marriage. ‘Black on White’ would only lead to trouble. Nowadays, intermarriage is the strongest statement that people are who they are, not due to the color of their skin, and certainly shouldn’t be due to their fairy tales.
The book apparently is not “banned” as it is available for sale. The book is simply not “included” in the current curriculum. It would seem JT’s respect for the Israeili education system only extends as far as he approves. How are they doing in math and science compared to the United States?
The French have an expression regarding learning a language or about a new people, that it is best done, ‘Between the sheets and midnight.’
There is a substantial difference between banning a book from sale and “banning” a book from use in schools. I’m not going to defend the latter, but have to wonder the extent to which the described book is appropriate for public education. Maybe this is a work of genius, maybe it’s no better than letting HS Juniors or Seniors watch Oprah.
The more important lesson is what it says about modern Israel. The dreams of Jews & Arabs living in peace widely held throughout the first 50 yrs of Israel’s history look to be barely on life support. The opinions and feelings of younger Israelis seem nearly caught up with those of Arabs.
To the extent in 1948 there were Arabs who believed Jews & Muslims could leave in peace, by the 1970’s-1980’s those Arabs/Muslims seemed far in the minority. In the 21st Century the number of Israeli Jews who believe in coexistence look to be catching up with the Muslim Jew-haters.
Back when Bill Clinton was president there was a moment when Arafat could have established an independent Muslim Palestine. He demurred, citing how if he signed such an agreement he would be, literally, a dead man. Such poor leadership should make Americans appreciate people like Washington, who had he been on the losing side would have very much been a dead man.
So if we wanted to promote science, should we allow scientists to only marry other scientists, musicians to only marry other musicians, blue eyes to only marry others with blue eyes? That is such primitive thinking, as with the notion that European royalty should only marry other European Royalty. It is an illusion that some people are more special than other people.
I agree with much of what bam bam articulated, except that I can’t help but wonder if intermarriage between Israelis and Palestinians might lead to peace in the Middle East.
There isn’t a ban in Israeli society with regard to the purchase of this book. Quite the contrary. There is simply a decision not to utilize it as part of the educational curriculum in Israeli high schools. A major difference. Anyone wishing to read this work, I assume, is free to do so in Israel, without the threat of harm. School districts, both here and abroad, routinely make decisions regarding which textbooks are to be utilized. Various considerations are taken into account, especially since schools serve a crucial role in societies around the world–socialization, which should not be dismissed as being one of the major functions of our educational institutions. Just like many, here in the US, would strongly object to having a book called Susie Has Two Daddies or Mikey Has Two Mommies being pawned off onto their impressionable kids as part of a school curriculum, the decision in Israel is not much different. Those that object to Susie Has Two Daddies being a part of a school curriculum do so because they believe that it tears at the very fiber of our society–the traditional family unit. A 2013 survey in the US, not Israel, found that 58 percent of all Jewish people were intermarrying, with a 71 percent rate of intermarriage in the non-religious community. Israel is, like it or not, a Jewish state. There is a compelling state interest in not providing further approval and/or encouragement regarding weakening that foundation by introducing materials that would support intermarriage. That’s not evil–that’s self-preservation. Again, note, there is no total ban of the book–just a decision to exclude it from the school curriculum.
If Catholics, for example, were intermarrying at a rate so significant that Catholicism, as a religion, was threatened with extinction, would anyone question the exclusion of a textbook, in a Catholic school, which promoted, encouraged or condoned intermarriage between a Catholic and one of a different faith? Not me. I would completely get that. The Catholic Church, and the schools associated with it, has a duty to encourage and support its faith. Anything that detracts from that mission is rightfully excluded from its indoctrination.
Nothing like censorship to push book sales.
First, it’s critical to note that modern Judaism’s holiest of all holy books is not the Bible Old Testament (one f two “Torah”). The first book of Judaism is The Talmud (the other “Torah,”) which is a compilation of what Jesus curses (the “Traditions of the elders,” which were the Pharisees and Saducees) and ancient Bablylon/Egyptian pagan mystery religions.
The OT is inferior to the NT, and all OT verses can only rightly be understood as a history lesson in context of the “new and better covenant…When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear…”
The OT Hebrew religion was a racist and sexist patriarchal religion. One born into it was subject to be cast out to the wilderness to die, or worse (stoned to death in some cases). Conversely, Jesus in the NT turns the OT upside down: in the OT it was an eye for an eye, in the NT love your enemy. (Regardless what war mongering followers of Christ say, Christ’s worst violence espoused and/or practiced was to turn the money changers tables over.)
There are some inklings of the NT era in the OT: God tells Jonah to proselytize pagan Ninevites (a rare exception of the OT rule which was not to proselytize). Jonah refuses because he did not want the Ninevites to be saved/enter the fold of the Hebrew nation. Also, when the Babylonians held the Hebrews captive God ordered (not requested) the Hebrews to “obey and pray for their captors,” a concept otherwise completely foreign to the Hebrew nation.
Anyway, OT Hebrews rightly perceived gentiles as “unclean,” and “wicked.” (NT: “You and wicked men killed the Lord Jesus:” “you” is the Hebrews, “wicked men” are the pagan gentile Egyptians.)
Prior to Jesus’ Parousia at 70 AD, I do not know whether or not first C Hebrews who converted to follow Christ had to continue following all Hebrew law. I do know that post 70 AD, when Nero and Rome destroyed The Temple, there is no such thing as an OT Hebrew because per the OT, there is no such thing as the Hebrew polity minus The Temple. IOW, up to 70 AD there were such thing as Hebrew and gentile, post 70 AD there are only saved and unsaved. (The sum of the numbers correlating to the Greek letters spelling Nero = “666.” 666 can not be the Church of Rome because the Temple still exists in the scene in Revelation, and the Church of Rome did not exist till the post-Constantine era.
Apparently, even Jesus refers to gentiles as “dogs.” “…And He answered and said, ‘It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’ 27But she said, ‘Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus said to her, ‘O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed at once…”
But again, post 70 AD, minus the Temple, the entire Hebrew polity ceased to exist forever. “He has not done so with any other nation.” Calling the modern state of Israel the descendant of OT Israel is like calling an image of the Mona Lisa the actual Mona Lisa painting. It’s a blatant lie.