Israeli Jewish racism (update 1): Genocidal languages

When German Chacellor Angela Merkel spoke before the Knesset on March 18, 2008, MK Arye Eldad, from the National Union-National Religious Party, left the plenum in disconformity. His objection? Merkel was addressing the Israeli parliament in her mother tongue -- German. As Eldad explained to the media:

"The last words my family heard were in German, and those were the orders to shoot them," Eldad said. "My protest is against the State of Israel and the Knesset, who invited her to make an address inside [the Knesset] when protocol does not require it."

Eldad's account may or may not be accurate (lots of Jews were executed by Ukrainians or Lithuanians), but what does it matter? The important thing is the symbolic significance of his unsourced statement. Very much like Misha DeFonseca or Benjamin Wilkomirski or Herman Rosenblat -- who are we to laugh at their fake Holocaust experiences? I mean, after all they went through, does it really matter it was a fabrication?

Joining in Eldad's protest was Shelly Yacimovich, from Labor:

Yacimovich said that while Merkel was a true friend to Israel, "allowing her to speak in German in the Israeli Knesset is utterly insensitive to Holocaust survivors. Germany is our ally, but in our generation we must respect the wounded psyches of survivors."

At first glance this would seem to be nonsense, and one would be tempted to point out that while survivors deserve respect and a just treatment --such as Germany, though not Israel, grants them--, they should not hold all speakers of a language hostage. Upon deeper analysis, however, one realizes that German's compound words, separable verbs and mixed vowels indeed arouse in the speaker the desire to commit genocide. Particularly guilty is the umlaut sign (¨), not coincidentally also present in Turkish. (Spanish also uses it, but nowhere as frequently; that would explain why the Inquisition killed far less people than the Holocaust or the Armenian genocide.)

Against that backdrop, Israeli Arab student Hanin Muslah committed an even worse crime than Angela Merkel. While on an Israeli bus, she spoke Arabic. Yes, Arabic -- the language in which the Mufti of Jerusalem instructed the Germans to start the Final Solution. Ynet reports:

Muslah, who is originally from the Wadi Ara area and is studying for a degree in engineering at the establishment's architecture and interior design department, said two armed security guards boarded the bus near a checkpoint as it was leaving Ariel. She claimed that the guards questioned her after hearing her speak Arabic and eventually ordered her to get off the bus.

"As I was talking on my cell I noticed they were pointing at me," said Muslah, who takes the same bus home every day. "I started to cry. I have never been so humiliated in my entire life. They took me off the bus in the middle of nowhere. I told them, 'I'm an Israeli, just like you are, so why are you treating me like this? Why take me off the bus in such a degrading manner?'"

Ms. Muslah is wrong. She is Israeli, but the guards are Jewish, i.e., much more Israeli than her. The Israelis' concept of equality is the same as that of the pigs in Animal farm. (Will I ever be able to criticize Zionism without using antisemitic, dehumanizing, and, worst of all, treif imagery?)

The Dhimmi status of Arabs in Israel is further confirmed by the following remarkable statement:

"I don't wear a veil or traditional dresses; I don’t look Arab," said the student, "I was taken off the bus only because I spoke Arabic."

Somewhat pathetically, this young woman is implying that, had she worn a veil, taking her off the bus would have been OK. I did my homework, she seems to complain, to have the "right" looks. Can't I be forgiven if I speak Arabic with my mom on the cell?

Ehm, no, Ms. Muslah, you can't. You're a second-class citizen. You'll be tolerated on buses and even in classrooms, but the moment you get assertive about your Arab identity, the system will make sure that you don't get away with it.

Later on in life you'll discover that however Western the clothes you wear, and however polished the Hebrew you speak, your job application will be dismissed as soon as your prospective Jewish employer reaches the line in your résumé that says, "Name." Welcome to Zionism, Ms. Muslah.