It’s a very serious running gag here at Israellycool. Every time (and it’s all the time) we see Arabs and Jews just getting along within Israel we refer to this as “apartheid”. We refer to all perfectly normal, common and daily interactions between Jews and Arabs as “apartheid”
- See an Arab woman queuing alongside you in the supermarket: “apartheid”.
- Check in to a hotel on a Friday night: an Arab will most likely be the front desk manager. More “apartheid”.
- Travel to Jerusalem to drink coffee with Arab customers of your company, “apartheid”.
- Sit with your wife in the chemo ward of an Israeli hospital that is treating as many or more Arabs than Jews.
And it goes even further: Israel has taken in refugees (Jewish and otherwise) from so many parts of the world we have every possible colour, creed and religion living here. It’s one of the most diverse societies ever assembled anywhere. The charges of apartheid laid upon us are so ridiculous it’s beyond astonishing.
So here is a nice video show just one aspect of how Arabs are portrayed on Israeli TV and how Jews are shown on the TV of our “peace partners”.
And just for afters (don’t thank me, hit the tip jar for Dave) here is a nice blog post on the Times of Israel from a recent immigrant from Panama describing just how much “apartheid” she sees every day in Israel.
As a new Immigrant to Israel, I can compare places and I can see the flaws. And since I can do that, allow me to say that the world has no idea of how unique this country is.
Some critics of Israel say this place has an Apartheid system. Sure!!!! But let me understand how this “apartheid” works, because my roommate is Ethiopian, and I live in an apartment with Russians and Israelis. My best friend is Spanish. My boss is English, and in class a Chinese lady sits beside me. I hang out with Americans, and my boyfriend is Dutch while his best friend is Venezuelan.
If that is not enough for a cultural and International salad, let me add that my neighbors on my floor are Arab students of the same university. Most of them are girls.
