Still Not Shared Values

The Isreali Knesset just passed a bill that would be morally repugnant in any state claiming to be western. It is clearly unconstitutional in the US, where even private citizens can't restrict to whom they sell their land.

So much for shared values between the United States and Israel.

Last week, the Israeli Knesset passed, on first reading, the Jewish National Fund bill which allows the JNF to refuse to lease land to Arab citizens. The JNF is a quasi-public charity established to raise funds to purchase land for Jewish settlement within Israel. In 1961, the Israeli government transferred 13% of Israeli land to the JNF. Included in this were one million dunams expropriated from Arab residents who fled Israel in 1948.

What has been very interesting is the response of leading Jewish "rights" organizations.

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The other major Jewish groups like the Anti Defamation League and American Jewish Committee have sat on their hands so far. First, they cannot rock the boat against a fellow American Jewish group (the JNF); second, their rather conservative membership sees little wrong with discrimination in favour of Israeli Jews.

And yet we continue to defend this state with our money and lives without really thinking "is this something we should be supporting?"

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JNF USA supports this bill:

Ronald Lauder, the head of the Jewish National Fund of America, welcomed last Wednesday’s Knesset vote.

“We are gratified that the government of Israel, which since 1961 has been entrusted with management of JNF lands through the Israel Land Authority, recognised that the land purchased by the Jewish people for the Jewish people should remain in the hands of its rightful owners he said in a statement.

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And finally, Gordon Brown does not mind being assocaited with the UK branch of this organization.

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