One of the aspects keeping me firmly on the right with regard to Israeli-Arab politics was the authentic views of Muslim-Arabs themselves.
For example, my son's boss Mustafa lives in what everyone calls a "kfar" (village) — which sounds quaint & primitive, but in actuality, hosts palatial homes.
When my son needed to drive his boss's car to his boss's home (a multi-story luxury villa which hosts his boss's family, his boss's parents, and his boss's brother's family — all with plenty of room & separate entrances, like an apartment building), my son parked the car in the family garage...next to one brother's Audi & another brother's Mercedes.
Many of the Muslim-Arab women in the kfar work in a local hi-tech Israeli company.
Mustafa & his wife regularly treat themselves to European vacations.
O, to be a poor & oppressed minority in Israel!
(Wait a minute...I AM a minority in Israel! Just not a NON-Jewish minority...)
To be fair, despite the kfar's progressive appearance (everyone speaks Hebrew as a fluent second language, many enjoy financial security & respectable jobs, plus many enjoy higher education — my son's boss earned a law degree — and they're not terribly religious Muslims, they get along with Jews pretty well, etc.), my son's boss is part of the main clan that runs the kfar.
And Mustafa is considered one of the respected members of that ruling clan.
This is part of the reason why my son could drive through the kfar in Mustafa's car in relative security.
It was pretty funny when, after entering the kfar, everyone my son passed honked & waved at him, thinking he was Mustafa, and then did a double-take upon seeing a Jew at the wheel.
(If you're wondering...there were some business documents necessary to update that day, which Mustafa had forgotten about. So while he was sleeping in, my son high-tailed over to the kfar to bring him the necessary documents before time ran out. As my son stepped out onto the sidewalk, he encountered Mustafa's wife rushing to work. "Oh, the door's unlocked," she cheerfully said after my son quickly explained the problem. "You can just go in and wake him up! Bye! Need to run!"
And my son was like, I'm NOT going to do that! Instead, he just kept knocking & ringing until Mustafa woke up.)
Even though many of the kfar's residents have Israeli citizenship, they refuse to serve in the IDF or vote in Israeli elections.
Officially, they oppose non-Muslim "occupation" (despite how much they're thriving in comparison to their co-religionists in the region).
Yet one day, Mustafa & a couple of guys from the kfar told my son if they would vote they would vote for...Bibi Netanyahu.
At first glance, that makes no sense.
After all, Netanyahu headed Likud, a right-of-center party.
No one thinks of the Likud as particularly concerned with Arab rights, nor does the Likud ever present themselves that way.
You'd think Muslim-Arabs would vote for an Arab party or a Leftist party.
But no.
Mustafa and his fellows felt things went well for them under Bibi's leadership.
(And they aren't the only Arabs in Israel who think this way.)
The Arab mentality ALWAYS favors strong leaders. You cannot rule effectively in the Middle East without strength.
This has always been true — including in pre-Islamic times.
Strong patriarchal leadership is not religious (although it became that too), but cultural.
And they perceive Bibi as strong.
(Plus, economics went well for them during his term.)
For example, my son's boss Mustafa lives in what everyone calls a "kfar" (village) — which sounds quaint & primitive, but in actuality, hosts palatial homes.
When my son needed to drive his boss's car to his boss's home (a multi-story luxury villa which hosts his boss's family, his boss's parents, and his boss's brother's family — all with plenty of room & separate entrances, like an apartment building), my son parked the car in the family garage...next to one brother's Audi & another brother's Mercedes.
Many of the Muslim-Arab women in the kfar work in a local hi-tech Israeli company.
Mustafa & his wife regularly treat themselves to European vacations.
O, to be a poor & oppressed minority in Israel!
(Wait a minute...I AM a minority in Israel! Just not a NON-Jewish minority...)
To be fair, despite the kfar's progressive appearance (everyone speaks Hebrew as a fluent second language, many enjoy financial security & respectable jobs, plus many enjoy higher education — my son's boss earned a law degree — and they're not terribly religious Muslims, they get along with Jews pretty well, etc.), my son's boss is part of the main clan that runs the kfar.
And Mustafa is considered one of the respected members of that ruling clan.
This is part of the reason why my son could drive through the kfar in Mustafa's car in relative security.
It was pretty funny when, after entering the kfar, everyone my son passed honked & waved at him, thinking he was Mustafa, and then did a double-take upon seeing a Jew at the wheel.
(If you're wondering...there were some business documents necessary to update that day, which Mustafa had forgotten about. So while he was sleeping in, my son high-tailed over to the kfar to bring him the necessary documents before time ran out. As my son stepped out onto the sidewalk, he encountered Mustafa's wife rushing to work. "Oh, the door's unlocked," she cheerfully said after my son quickly explained the problem. "You can just go in and wake him up! Bye! Need to run!"
And my son was like, I'm NOT going to do that! Instead, he just kept knocking & ringing until Mustafa woke up.)
Even though many of the kfar's residents have Israeli citizenship, they refuse to serve in the IDF or vote in Israeli elections.
Officially, they oppose non-Muslim "occupation" (despite how much they're thriving in comparison to their co-religionists in the region).
Yet one day, Mustafa & a couple of guys from the kfar told my son if they would vote they would vote for...Bibi Netanyahu.
At first glance, that makes no sense.
After all, Netanyahu headed Likud, a right-of-center party.
No one thinks of the Likud as particularly concerned with Arab rights, nor does the Likud ever present themselves that way.
You'd think Muslim-Arabs would vote for an Arab party or a Leftist party.
But no.
Mustafa and his fellows felt things went well for them under Bibi's leadership.
(And they aren't the only Arabs in Israel who think this way.)
The Arab mentality ALWAYS favors strong leaders. You cannot rule effectively in the Middle East without strength.
This has always been true — including in pre-Islamic times.
Strong patriarchal leadership is not religious (although it became that too), but cultural.
And they perceive Bibi as strong.
(Plus, economics went well for them during his term.)
Who Needs More Uncivilized Violent Hotheads? Look Who's Talking...
Another complaint expressed by Mustafa & his cousins concerned controversy over the law of citizenship regarding spouses from what are known as Palestinian territories.
Due to legitimate terrorist concerns, such people could not receive Israeli citizenship upon marrying an Israeli-Arab.
Unfortunately, certain Israeli government ministers wished to change this.
They wanted to display fairness & generosity toward the Muslim-Arab population.
However, Mustafa & his cousins (along with many other Arabs) disagreed.
"What, I need some primitive guy coming from the Palestinian territories who loses his head way too easily, and can just plunge a knife in me during a disagreement?" Mustafa asked rhetorically.
It's hard to argue with that logic.
Mustafa & his cousins explained how they dislike dealing with such hot-headed uncivilized people — people with a strong propensity toward violence.
Yes, they're fellow Muslim-Arabs. But the whole Arab brotherhood thing is a farce.
Their Arab world remains divided by clans & outside of clans, divided by different ethnicities & nationalities.
I've also come across comments by Lebanese Muslim-Arabs regarding their own Palestinians, whom the native Lebanese often see as troublemakers & thieves who ruin the neighborhood.
Of course there are always differences between people of the same ethnicity or religion.
No group is completely uniform.
But the way simple-minded Leftists pander to purely theoretical Arab interests while ignoring the real Arab interests?
Nobody wins.
Due to legitimate terrorist concerns, such people could not receive Israeli citizenship upon marrying an Israeli-Arab.
Unfortunately, certain Israeli government ministers wished to change this.
They wanted to display fairness & generosity toward the Muslim-Arab population.
However, Mustafa & his cousins (along with many other Arabs) disagreed.
"What, I need some primitive guy coming from the Palestinian territories who loses his head way too easily, and can just plunge a knife in me during a disagreement?" Mustafa asked rhetorically.
It's hard to argue with that logic.
Mustafa & his cousins explained how they dislike dealing with such hot-headed uncivilized people — people with a strong propensity toward violence.
Yes, they're fellow Muslim-Arabs. But the whole Arab brotherhood thing is a farce.
Their Arab world remains divided by clans & outside of clans, divided by different ethnicities & nationalities.
I've also come across comments by Lebanese Muslim-Arabs regarding their own Palestinians, whom the native Lebanese often see as troublemakers & thieves who ruin the neighborhood.
Of course there are always differences between people of the same ethnicity or religion.
No group is completely uniform.
But the way simple-minded Leftists pander to purely theoretical Arab interests while ignoring the real Arab interests?
Nobody wins.
Say What?
Another son worked with a Muslim-Arab in an area with a lot of secular Israeli Leftists.
That son quickly developed a disgust for the customers who kissed up to the Arab employee by cooing at him & flattering him during business transactions, plus expressing fake concern by saying things like, "What can be done about the high rate of murder in the Arab sector?"
As if they care.
(Note: In addition to speaking with Arabs, it's good to speak with Israeli Leftists. Contrary to how they present themselves, many of them do not actually like Arabs. In fact, they usually dislike anyone who is not exactly like them. They crave utter uniformity. A lot of their Leftist policies — including a 2-state solution — derive from their need to feel "righteous" AND to live apart from Arabs. They would also like to live apart from any religious Jews too. When Israeli Leftists speak of "co-existence," they actually mean "and never the twain shall meet." Israeli Leftists love segregation.)
Apparently, the high rate of murder in the Arab sector (1-2 every day) has recently become a big issue in Israeli media.
(And, in contrast to their representation in mainstream media, you may be surprised to learn that national-religious Jewish settlers are NOT behind the high murder rate in the Arab sector. Neither are Buddhists. Or Baptists. Or Mormons. Or Trump. And nope — not chareidim either! Guess who the real culprits are...)
The Arab guy always replied with something agreeable like, "Yeah! The police need go in & confiscate all the weapons! That's the only way!"
In other words, Israel needs to make the Arab sector a gun-free zone.
(There will now be a pause until those of you in-the-know stop laughing your heads off.)
Then an hour later, the Arab guy turned to my son and said, "You know, the other night my neighbor started shooting off his AK-47 during a family simcha in his home and woke my toddler. I had to go over there & tell him to stop. He apologized & promised to be more considerate next time."
Needless to say, his neighbor was in the same clan or the interaction might not have gone so smoothly.
"Yeah," continued the Arab co-worker. "Every single family in my area owns an AK-47! We don't have ONE home without a fully automatic weapon!" he boasted.
And my son was like, Wait a minute. I could've sworn that just one hour ago, someone who looks exactly like you was saying the illegal weapons ownership in the Arab sector was a problem & needed to be confiscated by the police!
We also see glaring cultural differences here.
Can you imagine that, instead of breaking a plate at a vort, the kallah's father simply started blasting 5-millimeter bullets out the window?
Knock-knock. "Mazal tov! I'm very sorry to bother you, Yeruchmiel Yoisef, and I'm sure you didn't realize it, but all your leibedich shooting woke my little Mendy."
"Oy, I'm so very sorry, Duvid. Thank you for being dan l'kaf zechus. I'll be sure to take your Mendy's shluffy time into consideration at our next simcha."
"Shkoyach, Yeruchmiel Yoisef! Oif simchos!"
That son quickly developed a disgust for the customers who kissed up to the Arab employee by cooing at him & flattering him during business transactions, plus expressing fake concern by saying things like, "What can be done about the high rate of murder in the Arab sector?"
As if they care.
(Note: In addition to speaking with Arabs, it's good to speak with Israeli Leftists. Contrary to how they present themselves, many of them do not actually like Arabs. In fact, they usually dislike anyone who is not exactly like them. They crave utter uniformity. A lot of their Leftist policies — including a 2-state solution — derive from their need to feel "righteous" AND to live apart from Arabs. They would also like to live apart from any religious Jews too. When Israeli Leftists speak of "co-existence," they actually mean "and never the twain shall meet." Israeli Leftists love segregation.)
Apparently, the high rate of murder in the Arab sector (1-2 every day) has recently become a big issue in Israeli media.
(And, in contrast to their representation in mainstream media, you may be surprised to learn that national-religious Jewish settlers are NOT behind the high murder rate in the Arab sector. Neither are Buddhists. Or Baptists. Or Mormons. Or Trump. And nope — not chareidim either! Guess who the real culprits are...)
The Arab guy always replied with something agreeable like, "Yeah! The police need go in & confiscate all the weapons! That's the only way!"
In other words, Israel needs to make the Arab sector a gun-free zone.
(There will now be a pause until those of you in-the-know stop laughing your heads off.)
Then an hour later, the Arab guy turned to my son and said, "You know, the other night my neighbor started shooting off his AK-47 during a family simcha in his home and woke my toddler. I had to go over there & tell him to stop. He apologized & promised to be more considerate next time."
Needless to say, his neighbor was in the same clan or the interaction might not have gone so smoothly.
"Yeah," continued the Arab co-worker. "Every single family in my area owns an AK-47! We don't have ONE home without a fully automatic weapon!" he boasted.
And my son was like, Wait a minute. I could've sworn that just one hour ago, someone who looks exactly like you was saying the illegal weapons ownership in the Arab sector was a problem & needed to be confiscated by the police!
We also see glaring cultural differences here.
Can you imagine that, instead of breaking a plate at a vort, the kallah's father simply started blasting 5-millimeter bullets out the window?
Knock-knock. "Mazal tov! I'm very sorry to bother you, Yeruchmiel Yoisef, and I'm sure you didn't realize it, but all your leibedich shooting woke my little Mendy."
"Oy, I'm so very sorry, Duvid. Thank you for being dan l'kaf zechus. I'll be sure to take your Mendy's shluffy time into consideration at our next simcha."
"Shkoyach, Yeruchmiel Yoisef! Oif simchos!"
Whoa, Where'd All These AK-47s Come From?
Then I said to my son, "Wait a minute...where is the Arab sector getting all these AK-47s from? Israel doesn't use AK-47s."
My son looked at me sagely and said, "They smuggle them in from Jordan & Egypt, and places like that."
In other words, all the surrounding countries.
(Note: I looked it up & Israel acquired AK-47s from battles with neighboring Arab armies. And they used them. And they created the Galil in imitation. But you don't run into AK-47s in Israel. Every time I've seen a rifle or someone talks about a rifle, it's always an M-16, a Tavor, an Uzi, etc., but never an AK-47. At least, that's my experience. So it's weird that so many Arabs in Israel own AK-47s...and without permits too, needless to say. How do they do that with such strict gun control going on? Hmm...)
Anyway, it's conversations like these that cemented my political views AGAINST the Israeli Left.
(The above are just the most recent samples & not the only interactions.)
Educated & successful Muslim-Arabs who truly wish to live good lives without war & terrorism actually oppose Leftist policies, which treat the Muslim-Arab world as a monolith & tend to favor the less civilized sectors to the detriment of the normal sectors of the Arab world.
Yes, in public, Muslim-Arabs tend to voice the opinion they feel needs to be said.
Whether they say it from actual conviction, religious duty, peer pressure, fear, getting caught up in the emotion of brotherhood, or some other reason...they say publicly whatever they think they should say.
And even the ones thriving under Israeli rule secretly wish they could live under Muslim rule.
That's their religious view, shared by even the less religious Muslims.
(In case you're wondering why they want Muslim rule when it's clearly not working well for the majority of Muslims in nearly every Muslim country in the world, they'll point to Turkey as an example. They think Muslim rule in Israel would be like Turkey and not like every other Muslim country. Although...I don't think Turkey provides better opportunities than Israel. And Israel's Muslims fantasize they'd enjoy the same standard of living under Muslim rule as they enjoy now under Jewish rule.)
But in private conversation, they freely express their true feelings.
And as we see above, regardless of their true feelings & friendly behavior, there is a very real difference in mentality.
(They shoot fully automatic machine guns in the air at their simchos; we complain about the music being too loud at ours, etc. Okay, not ALL of them do that...but it's common enough.)
And in addition to the fact that Leftism is so harmful toward Jews in Eretz Yisrael, the harm it causes the Arab sector merely solidified my view of Leftism as a wholly useless & harmful — and even deadly — approach to life in Israel.
My son looked at me sagely and said, "They smuggle them in from Jordan & Egypt, and places like that."
In other words, all the surrounding countries.
(Note: I looked it up & Israel acquired AK-47s from battles with neighboring Arab armies. And they used them. And they created the Galil in imitation. But you don't run into AK-47s in Israel. Every time I've seen a rifle or someone talks about a rifle, it's always an M-16, a Tavor, an Uzi, etc., but never an AK-47. At least, that's my experience. So it's weird that so many Arabs in Israel own AK-47s...and without permits too, needless to say. How do they do that with such strict gun control going on? Hmm...)
Anyway, it's conversations like these that cemented my political views AGAINST the Israeli Left.
(The above are just the most recent samples & not the only interactions.)
Educated & successful Muslim-Arabs who truly wish to live good lives without war & terrorism actually oppose Leftist policies, which treat the Muslim-Arab world as a monolith & tend to favor the less civilized sectors to the detriment of the normal sectors of the Arab world.
Yes, in public, Muslim-Arabs tend to voice the opinion they feel needs to be said.
Whether they say it from actual conviction, religious duty, peer pressure, fear, getting caught up in the emotion of brotherhood, or some other reason...they say publicly whatever they think they should say.
And even the ones thriving under Israeli rule secretly wish they could live under Muslim rule.
That's their religious view, shared by even the less religious Muslims.
(In case you're wondering why they want Muslim rule when it's clearly not working well for the majority of Muslims in nearly every Muslim country in the world, they'll point to Turkey as an example. They think Muslim rule in Israel would be like Turkey and not like every other Muslim country. Although...I don't think Turkey provides better opportunities than Israel. And Israel's Muslims fantasize they'd enjoy the same standard of living under Muslim rule as they enjoy now under Jewish rule.)
But in private conversation, they freely express their true feelings.
And as we see above, regardless of their true feelings & friendly behavior, there is a very real difference in mentality.
(They shoot fully automatic machine guns in the air at their simchos; we complain about the music being too loud at ours, etc. Okay, not ALL of them do that...but it's common enough.)
And in addition to the fact that Leftism is so harmful toward Jews in Eretz Yisrael, the harm it causes the Arab sector merely solidified my view of Leftism as a wholly useless & harmful — and even deadly — approach to life in Israel.
Follow-up post: eating-my-words-after-yesterdays-post.html
A Portrait of Leftism
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