More on the democracy front. Tribalism in Israel can be very subtle. It is, in fact, illegal in Israel to discriminate on the basis of race or religion. So how are Arabs discriminated against? Well, Arabs don’t for the most part, serve in the army. So many laws are set up giving benefits only to those who do. But many ultra-orthodox Jews aslo don’t serve in the army. So the laws are tweaked so that these Jews also get benefits and Arabs are still excluded. Most Israelis find these wierd machinations quite acceptable. That is, its fine to discriminate as long as you don’t say it out loud, so the “goyim” (i.e. Uncle Sam who bankrolls the country) won’t find out. After all, the basis for making Israel the number one recipient of U.S. aid is the “shared values” between the two countries. As Trent Lott found out recently, discrimination is not considered a value in America today. Israel is still in the dark on this point.
All this is a long introduction to this article. Civil rights groups try to fight these discriminatory laws but it is an uphill battle. Even if the Supreme Court overturns the law, the Knesset will just go back and tweak it again, until it can find a “legal” way to discriminate. =