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> > > > *Why Israel pretends Mohammed isn't there* > > *It isn't a matter of racism. It's a matter of denial.* > > By Asher Schechter | Sep. 28, 2014 | 9:59 AM > > Earlier this week, Israel’s Population, Immigration and Borders Authority > (PIBA) released its annual statement for Rosh Hashanah. Filled with tidbits > about Israel’s population, such as the official number of Israeli citizens > (8,904,373) and how many births occurred during the outgoing Jewish year > (176,230), a main attraction in PIBA’s annual publication is the list of > most-popular baby names. > > The year 5774 saw a stunning upset when it came to girls: Tamar dethroned > Noa. Regarding boys, the most popular names stayed Yosef, Daniel and Uri. > > But Yosef wasn't actually the most popular baby name in Israel. That, as > reported by Haaretz’s Ilan Lior last week, was in fact Mohammad. > > One would be hard-pressed not to suspect racism. No distinctly-Arab baby > name made it to the top 10 of popular baby names in Israel (Yosef and Adam > are common among both Jews and Arab-Israelis), although Arabs account for > 20% of Israel’s population. > > On the face of it, the omission smacks of a deliberate attempt to exclude > the Arab population of Israel from yet another thing Israeli. Yet this > isn’t a matter of simple, blatant racism. It’s worse. It’s denial. > > Denial of what? First of all of Arabs, of course. Failing to acknowledge > the existence of its big Arab population is a much subtler of exclusion, > and in a way worse than outright racism: at least when we discriminate, we > acknowledge the other. > > But mostly it’s a denial of a reality that isn't convenient. In recent > years, Israel has developed a habit of trying to embellish or simplify > reality by ignoring inconveniences. Let’s call it the “not counting the > Haredim and Arabs” trick. > > *Peek-a-boo, I don't see you* > > For instance, back in April 2012, PM Netanyahu made a revealing admission. > Asked about the extreme inequality in Israel and the surge of public anger, > as shown in the social protests of 2011, Netanyahu claimed: “If you deduct > the Arabs and the Haredim from inequality indices, we are doing great." > > His statement caused an uproar but since then, the claim that Israel is > doing just great if you don’t count it’s most impoverished groups has > become a cliche of sorts among Israeli officials: if not for those pesky > Haredim and Arabs, Israel would have been one of the most advanced > countries in the OECD. > > A study conducted by the Taub Center for Israel Studies in 2013 proves > that even if you discount the Haredim and Arabs, Israel remains a poor, > unequal, relatively-unproductive country by OECD standards. But the > misconception has become entrenched, appropriated by ordinary and official > Israelis for other walks of life beyond economics, whether it’s Israel’s > troubled education system or, well, baby names. > > In that sense, if you don’t count the name Mohammad, Israel’s most popular > baby name is Yosef. And if you deduct the Arab population, Israel is a > Jewish state. It’s a cool mental trick, that enables Israel to be the > Jewish country it always wanted to be. It also implies, quite ominously, > that Israel as a nation has lost some capacity of dealing with reality. > > For years now, for instance, Israel has been concerned with the so-called > “demographic threat”, a scenario in which Palestinians, both within Israel > and in the Occupied Territories, become a majority thanks to their high > birth rates and therefore risk Israel’s Jewish majority and its status as a > Jewish state. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the first to > raise this concern, back in 2003. Some analysts suggested the fear of it > forced Ariel Sharon to unilaterally disengage from Gaza. > > Which brings us back to Mohammad, and the reality that its omission masks. > After all, what is the acknowledgement that Mohammad is the now most > popular baby name in Israel, if not an embarrassing admission that the so > called “demographic bomb” has already exploded? That Israel, despite its > definition of itself as Jewish, is a lot less Jewish than it would have > liked? How would you like a dose of demographic gunpowder with your > honey-dipped apple this year? > > But, if you deduct Mohammad, everything seems just fine. We are not > racists, we swear, we are simply escaping to a much-less complicated > fantasy land. > > SOURCE: http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/.premium-1.618013 > > ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
