Here's the letter I dashed off in response:
It's pretty rich of Yousef Jabareen to kvetch about Palestinians being deprived of rights and power when he himself sits as an elected member of Israel's parliament, the Knesset.In terms of "human rights," that's certainly more than a Jew can expect in say, Jordan, where Jews are not allowed to be citizens, or indeed in any country where sharia law, which accords Jews and Christians a second class status (as it also does to Muslim women), is in effect.
For that matter, Mr. Jabareen has far more "rights" in the Jewish state of Israel--where, last time I checked, all road signs are written in Hebrew and Arabic--than the ordinary Palestinian has in the Palestinian territories, including Gaza, which is ruled with an iron fist by the jihadi terrorist organization, Hamas.
Under what circumstances would the Palestinian Knesset member's comments re Israel having much to learn from Canada be valid? Only if and when Canada were to find itself in Israel's situation as the sole democracy in a neighbourhood ruled by Islamic despots and absolute monarchs who have a vested interest in stripping it of its identity, in Israel's case, as the world's one and only Jewish state.
Hey Mr. Scaramouche,
ReplyDeleteYou raise a number of points in your critique of MK Jabareen's op ed.
Please allow me to respond to one of them.
You point out that the Palestinian citizens of Israel have more rights than Arabs living in Jordan, for example. I think you are probably right. They also have more rights than Arabs living in Egypt or Saudi Arabia, etc.
If those are the countries Israel wants to be compared with, fine. But that sets the bar pretty low, I would argue.
If, on the other hand, Israel is compared to Canada or other democratic countries, it does not fare very well.
I think Canada should comment on human rights abuses and discrimination everywhere - Egypt, Saudi, Jordan... and Israel. Best wishes.