Obama election spurs race crimes around country

Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting "Assassinate Obama." Black figures hung from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars.

Anti-Obama (anti-Arab) anger erupts at McCain events

Sen. John McCain greets supporters at a rally in La Crosse, Wis., on Friday.

A sense of grievance spilling into rage has gripped some GOP events as McCain supporters see his presidential campaign lag against Barack Obama. They're making it personal, against the Democrat. Shouts of "traitor," "terrorist," "treason," "liar," and even "off with his head" have rung from the crowd at McCain and Sarah Palin rallies, and gone unchallenged by them.

Something to note. The clip shown on TV is a woman voicing her distrust of Obama because she mistakenly believes he is "an Arab." McCain responds "no, no, he is a good man." Notice that McCain does not make the wider argument that being Arab does not automatically make one bad - he simply comments that Obama is not Arab, therefore Obama is not bad. For those who think America has made great progress when it comes to race relations, think again. The above exchange would indicate otherwise - at least when it comes to Arabs.

Poll: Many Whites still have negative feelings toward Blacks

Now, in what could be a historic year for a black presidential candidate, a new Associated Press-Yahoo News poll, conducted with Stanford University, shows just how wide a gap remains between whites and blacks. It shows that a substantial portion of white Americans still harbor negative feelings toward blacks. It shows that blacks and whites disagree tremendously on how much racial prejudice exists, whose fault it is and how much influence blacks have in politics.

Catholic, Not Muslim, School Ok: Aussies

"Why is that racist? Why is it discriminatory? It's very simple: people like some things but don't like other things," Sremchevich said. (Google)

The small Australian town of Camden, which had fought fiercely to block the building of an Islamic school, is now giving it's blessings for a Catholic school, drawing an outcry from Muslims. "Catholics are part of our community so we should be supporting it on this basis alone," Emil Sremchevich, president of the Camden/Macarthur Residents' Group, told the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday, September 9.

What, me a racist??? Nawwww...

Does Obama's win show US is colorblind?

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., shakes hands at a rally, Saturday Jan. 5, 2008, in Nashua, N.H. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

"Whether Obama's appeal stretches beyond the farm fields of Iowa will become clear over the next month as the freshman senator faces a series of tests on different political terrain — beginning with Tuesday's primary in New Hampshire, another overwhelmingly white state."

The states of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North and South Carolina and Tennessee are still ahead. The US south is the true test and I doubt the US is as colorblind as the Iowa vote would suggest.

Black rabbi in Chicago seeks to bridge racial divide

"I have made it my point, on a personal level, to involve myself in the Jewish community," Funnye said. "I've worked for Jewish organizations. I've graduated from Jewish institutions. My children went to Jewish day school."

All of that and the Jews still don't or won't accept you. Really, Rabbi Funnye, don't you realize that Blacks, or any Goyim for that matter, can never REALLY be Jews? You see, it's not just a religion after all. And, oh yea, if you and your congregation are thinking about relocating to Israel in the future, I suggest you discuss your plans with the "Jews" from Ethiopia first - get their opinion on how Blacks are treated by "God's Chosen People." I think you will find their comments interesting. But, it's not like the Zionists are racist or anything like that...

Related Resources:

WELCOME: A look at Funnye's shul (Video)

HOME PAGE: The Beth Shalom Web site

Israel wants World Conference Against Racism defunded

Anti-Zionist Jews and pro-Palestinian supporters in a protest march in Durban.

"Israeli diplomats are quietly trying to get the US and EU to boycott and defund a follow-up to the 2001 World Conference Against Racism."

Racial Undercurrent Is Seen in Clinton Campaign

"It has unfolded mostly under the radar. But an important development in the 2008 Democratic battle may be the building backlash among African Americans over comments from associates of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that could be construed as jabs at Sen. Barack Obama's race."

When the rubber hits the road, it always come down to race in America.

Scribes of Hate: Culture Vultures and the Terror War

""Muslims are gaining on us demographically at a huge rate," Amis says, echoing the clenched-scrotum fear of the genuinely moronic Mark Steyn. "A quarter of humanity now and by 2025 they'll be a third. Italy's down to 1.1 child per woman. We're just going to be outnumbered." These are of course precisely the same kind of vapors that our manly Anglo-American elites have voiced over the years about Jews, blacks, the Irish, the Chinese, Mexicans and so on. "They" are always coming, "they" are always breeding like flies, "they" are always going to overwhelm "us" -- and steal "our" women."

Knesset rattled by racism report

"The Association for Civil Rights in Israel's latest report, which stated that racism and hatred towards Israeli-Arabs have doubled over the past year, caused a lively polemic in the Knesset on Sunday."

Segregation at Petach Tikvah religious school

"Four Ethiopian girls isolated from other students in separate classes, recess, and transportation."

But, it's not like we're racists or anything...

Racism on Israeli Airwaves

"A radio interview between an extreme right wing Israeli and a Palestinian journalist, resulted in the 'true colours' of racism coming out loud and clear..."

20 Nigger Laws and other difficult truths

"Offended yet? You should be. But, I'll bet you didn't know that every Confederate State passed "20 nigger laws" intended to exempt men from military service when they oversaw 20 or more slaves. I'll also bet that you never learned that no less than 1/3 of the South's military was stationed in areas with large slave populations, just to prevent slave uprisings. (pg. 194)"

Defining Racism

"Kay presents herself as a defender of Jews from racism. Jews should be defended from racism. All peoples should be defended from racism. Racism is a scourge that should be obliterated. Yet, in essence, Kay exposes her own racism by ignoring or minimizing the terrible crimes perpetrated on Palestinians by Jews."

Congressman Accuses Police Of Racial Profiling

We thought they were TERRORISTS! They looked Arab from a distance.

Arabic-speaking passengers sue American

by COREY WILLIAMS, Associated Press - Nov 1, 2007

Six men of Iraqi descent who were heading home from doing training for the U.S. military sued American Airlines on Thursday, saying employees detained and publicly humiliated them after another passenger voiced suspicions.

The men, who sued in U.S. District Court in Detroit alleging racial discrimination, say airline employees grounded their Aug. 28 flight from San Diego to Chicago and detained them, believing they were security risks.

The men, some of whom are U.S. citizens, were returning to the Detroit area after training Marines at California's Camp Pendleton on Iraqi culture when another passenger expressed concerns to guards partly because she heard the men speaking Arabic.

After taxiing from the gate, pilots returned the plane to the terminal. The six men were segregated and detained while the airline helped more than 100 passengers find hotel rooms, according to a prepared statement from the men.

The suit was filed on behalf of David Al-Watan, Talal Cholagh, Ali Alzerej, Hassan Alzerej, Hussein Alsalih and Mohammad Al-Saedy.

"They treated me like a terrorist," Al-Watan, 30, said in the statement. "We didn't do anything wrong, but they made everybody scared of us."

Flight 590's crew returned the plane to the gate to resolve potential security problems, airline spokesman Tim Wagner said in a statement.

"All passengers disembarked the aircraft after it was determined that it would not be able to redepart because of San Diego International Airport's 11:30 p.m. flight curfew," Wagner said. "Several passengers were briefly interviewed by law enforcement officers. No passenger was arrested."

The six men took flights with the airline the next morning, Wagner said.

The men worked for Defense Training Systems, a unit of International Logistics Services Corp. of Anchorage, Alaska. Their work involved teaching Marines about Iraqi culture, customs and etiquette, said their lawyer, Lawrence T. Garcia.

"These are some of the most pro-American people around," Garcia said. "There's no reason to suspect that these people were a threat on this airline. ... This is the face of prejudice and racism that happens today."

Mayor Bars Ethiopian Jewish Children From Schools

Wonder why it's always the Ethiopian Jews that gets singled out? First, their blood wasn't good enough to be donated. So Ethiopian Jews were banned from giving blood. Now, their children are barred from certain schools. If this wasn't the "perfect" state of Israel one might call it racism.

Ha’aretz

Six-year-old Adiso Dasa, who immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia three years ago, did not start school on Thursday. Rather than beginning first grade, he stayed home because of an order given by Or Yehuda Mayor Yitzhak Bokovza barring 50 children of Ethiopian immigrant families from registering in local schools.

The families all immigrated within the past three years, and until a few months ago they lived in absorption centers around the country, where they were given a governmental grant to purchase an apartment. Many of the families chose to move to Or Yehuda, where they believed they could integrate into Israeli society, find jobs and make a decent living. But sometimes dreams are dashed.

In Or Yehuda, it appears, the immigrants received a cold welcome. Mayor Bokovza is angry at state authorities, which, he said, do not allow "controlled absorption of immigrants" and allow large numbers of immigrants to end up in the same city, creating "ghettos." Some 1.5 percent of Or Yehuda residents are Ethiopian, according to Bokovza. "If this situation continues, in two years they will be 4 percent," he said.

Because of his actions, the State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss called on Bokovza to allow the students into the city’s education system immediately. Bokovza will come Sunday to a meeting of the Knesset State Control Committee, where he said he would hand down an
"indictment" against the State of Israel for its conduct regarding immigrant absorption.

Adiso has lived for three years with his family in an absorption center in the Jerusalem area Two months ago his family moved to Or Yehuda. Over the summer, his parents went to the municipality’s education department to register him for class. "They told us the mayor has not yet decided what to do. They didn’t tell us where to go. Now my brother is sitting at home,doing nothing. He is very disappointed by the entire situation," said Rahel, Adiso’s older sister, on Friday.

Ethiopian Immigrants Association chair Adiso Masala had some words for Bokovza: "If citizens of Israel want to move from one community to another, they can do so freely; we’re a democracy. I discovered that this man has no desire to absorb immigrant families. I now call on the government ministries to forbid mayors from denying immigrants the right to be absorbed in their cities, because that would be a dangerous precedent," he said.

Masala also blasted Education Minister Limor Livnat: "I heard her say Thursday that the school year opened with no hitches. Dozens of Ethiopian students who aren’t in school is not a hitch?" he asked.

One person has stepped in to propose a solution Ramat Hasharon Mayor Yitzhak Rochberger, who has already informed the Education Ministry that he has agreed to take dozens of Ethiopian pupils from Or Yehuda into his city’s education system and will even offer busing services to the children. "It is not right that someone who doesn’t send his kids to school risks being shown an arrest warrant, but a mayor is exempt from this. Because of his refusal 50 kids are on the street. I think Bokovza should be presented with 50 arrest warrants, one for each child who was left outside the school gates," Rochberger said.

Bokovza is convinced that he is only saying out loud what many other local authority heads only think, but prefer not to say so as not to be accused of "racist behavior." "When someone is ready to fight, he gets called racist. I am fighting the State of Israel, not Ethiopians. I’m actually protecting them. The State of Israel is sending them randomly to all sorts of places, and causing them to concentrate in certain places. The process could continue, and it should be stopped. Like in a healing process, sometimes you have to cut into the flesh. The sight of dozens of kids who aren’t in school is also distressing for me to witness. Today I will go to the State Control Committee and accuse the government ministries of abandoning certain populations and segregating strong populations from weaker ones," he said.

Also for your reading pleasure:

ISRAELI BAN ON ETHIOPIAN BLOOD WAS FLAWED POLICY

Yale Researcher Concludes

LINTHICUM, MD, June 24 – Israel’s 1996 decision to discard blood donated by Ethiopian immigrants was unjustified based on the infinitesimally small danger of HIV infection, concludes a Yale professor, who notes that there is a comparable HIV infection rate among Americans, who are not subject to a similar Israeli ban.

Dr. Edward H. Kaplan, a management scientist with the Yale University School of Management, presents a paper with his findings at an international convention of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Scientists (INFORMS) and the Operational Research Society of Israel (ORSIS) at Tel Aviv University on Monday, June 29 from 1 to 2 PM. He will present his findings again the same week at the 12th World AIDS conference in Geneva. He is the author of articles on this topic that have appeared in the British medical journal The Lancet and OR/MS Today, a publication of INFORMS.

Risk is one infection in 10 years

Dr. Kaplan uses mathematical modeling employed by operations researchers and management scientists to show that the actual risk of HIV infection in blood accepted from Ethiopian immigrants to Israel is only a single instance in 10 years.

Those who supported the ban — which has since been modified — note that the AIDS infection rate among Ethiopian immigrants is 50 times that of the rest of the Israeli population. Americans are roughly 25 times more likely to be infected with HIV than Israelis.

False Negatives

These statistics, he says, don’t tell an accurate story. In his research, Dr. Kaplan examines the question of whether Israel's Ethiopian blood ban was justified from a cost/benefit perspective.

Since all blood donations in Israel are screened for the presence of HIV antibody, blood is only accepted from donors who test HIV negative. Thus, the number of infectious donations prevented by the ban equals the number of donations from infected Ethiopian donors that tested antibody negative. At issue are false negatives, which occur in newly infected individuals.

While false negative tests can and do occur, the fraction of all antibody negative donations that are actually infectious is small. In the case of donations from Ethiopian immigrants to Israel, the rate of new infections has been estimated as at most 2.9 infections per 1,000 uninfected persons per year. Roughly one infectious donation would occur in every 5,000 antibody negative donations accepted.

According to the Navon Commission, which was formed to deal with issues raised by the blood ban, Ethiopian donors averaged only 485 donations annually. An estimated 1.3% of such donors test positive for HIV antibody, enabling roughly 480 antibody negative donations from Ethiopian immigrants per year. Of 480 antibody negative donations annually, one in every 5,000 would be infectious, implying that only 0.1 infectious donations were prevented each year, or equivalently one infectious donation every 10 years, not a major public health achievement, says Dr. Kaplan.

A similar analysis for non-Ethiopian Israelis reveals that of 221,960 antibody negative donations per year, 1.1 in one million would be expected to be infectious, for an infectious donation rate of 0.24 infectious donations per year, or roughly one every four years.

Those favoring exclusion argued that since Ethiopian donors exhibit a much greater HIV risk on a per donor basis, the exclusion decision was correct. Dr. Kaplan argues that given the small percentage of Ethiopian donations — only 480 compared to 221,960 — accepting a donation from an Ethiopian is beside the point. What is required is a willingness to accept blood from a supply of antibody negative donations, of which only 0.2% come from Ethiopian immigrants.

Therefore, the benefits of the ban, Dr. Kaplan says, can be viewed as preventing at most 0.1 infectious donations a year. The costs, he argues, were much higher, considering the damage done to relations with the Israeli Ethiopian community and a drop in blood supply coupled with protests that led to 70 injuries after the ban became known.

Of greater importance, Dr. Kaplan laments, is a lost opportunity to check the infection of AIDS: If Israeli officials working in Ethiopia with Jews preparing to immigrate had educated them about the spread of HIV, he believes, much heartbreak could have been averted.

Telling the Truth at Ben Gurion

by Eileen Fleming

[Tel Aviv, Israel , July 28, 2007 ] I left the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem: Occupied Territory at 8 AM and arrived at Ben Gurion Airport fifty minutes later.

I only hire Palestinian drivers whenever I travel in Israel Palestine, and for the first time in all my five journeys, my Palestinian driver did not have to leave his car and go into the interrogation building. Security asked me politely for my passport and to get out of the car and identify my luggage in the trunk. I did as I was told and then security returned my passport with a round blue sticker and the number 78 on the back cover. The sticker marks one as being with a Palestinian and triggers a more in-depth interrogation inside the terminal.

I told Samir, my driver, "I am not removing the sticker this time. I am livid to the point of over boil at all I have seen and heard these past two weeks and I will not shut up until I get it all out. I will be writing for the next week about what I have learned and I am going to tell airport security exactly where I have been and that I have been reporting it all on the web. I am flaming mad at my government and pathetic mainstream media who do not tell the truth about what is really going down in the Holy Land, which is all in pieces; Bantustans! Bush and Olmerts concept of a contiguous Palestinian state means connecting the unconnected enclaves with underground tunnels while the illegal settlers; colonists; squatters get to use the well paved apartheid roads and my tax dollars support this occupation and injustice! I am totally pissed off and whipped and worn out with misery and grief at all I have seen, heard and it has gone to my gut; my heart in other words, and I will not be silent; I cannot shut up."

Samir just shrugged.

The very first Ben Gurion employee, who questioned me, was the very same young trainee I had encountered in November 2006, but I didn't tell her that I remembered her. Eight months ago she was hesitant and apologetic in her questioning, but she had now mastered the routine, and there was no joking around. She was very concerned if anyone had given me anything that could be a bomb.

I told her nobody gave me anything except coffee, tea, water, soda, cookies, fruit, hummus and bobaganouh during my visits in Palestinian homes in Ramallah, Bethlehem, and in the Dasheish, Aida and Jenin refugee camps.

"How many times have you been to Israel?"

"This is my fifth trip."

"Do you have family here?"

"Not blood family, but friends who have become like family."

"What was the purpose for your trip?"

"I am an Internet reporter and I came to investigate what my government and the USA media doesn't talk about."

"So, have all your trips here been for business?"

"You could say that."

She then led me to the first x-ray machine, and after my bags passed through, she returned to me accompanied by another young woman and a young man in a suit.

He asked me; "How many times have you been to Israel?"

"This was my fifth trip and I spent all my time in occupied territory."

"Where have you been?"

" East Jerusalem, Bethlehem , Ramallah and Jenin. I am an Internet reporter and you can read all about my journey on my website," I replied as I handed him my card.

He looked at it carefully, smiled and replied, "Very nice, very interesting."

"Thanks. I hope you will read what I have to share."

"Oh, I will. May I keep your card?"

"Of course, it is yours and tell your friends to read me too."

"Thank you for your cooperation. There was a problem with your bags, they must go back through the x-ray machine."

"OK," I said and returned once again to where I had just been.

After the bags came back out, the young man in the suit informed me, "Your bags need to be further examined."

He led me to the next phase, a large rectangular space of tables with x-ray equipment in the middle and delivered me to station number 9, where three females were waiting for me. They asked me to open up all my bags and with plastic gloves on their hands; they swabbed and examined every surface and every article. My sunscreen lotion and Pink IPOD shuffle caused them some concern, but what really got them nervous was a stain on an old suitcase and they wanted to know, "How long had it been there?"

I had no clue as I borrowed the bag from my daughter and hadn't even noticed it until they brought it up. It took 35 minutes for them to go through all my stuff, and all my careful packing was for naught. They were pleasant enough, but nobody responded to me when I said, "All of this happens just because I have been to occupied Palestine? Oh well, every experience is writing material."

After they were satisfied I had no explosives in my luggage, one of them offered to help me repack, but I declined. As soon as I was zipped back up, one of them told me without making any eye contact, "Now I have to check you for metal."

"OK, sure, but I think you mean a strip search?"

She didn't respond and led me to the examining room where my shoes, belt, and jewelry came off and she told me to sit down and she would be right back. After my shoes and belt passed the x-ray inspection, she returned to me and told me to extend my legs so she could pat them down. Then she instructed me to stand up and hold my arms out so she could wand me all over. The wand kept alarming in the vicinity of the metal buttons and rivets on my jeans. She said, "Have a seat; I must get my supervisor."

She returned with a young woman, who also never made eye contact with me and commanded, "You need to drop your pants around your knees."

I complied and after she wanded me all over she turned and left, and I called to her back, "Did I pass the inspection? Can I get dressed?"

She never responded but my first 'companion' said "Yes."

I was then led back to my luggage and another female; one who did make eye contact and smiled a lot. "Come with me," she said and I did.

She led me to the front of a line of about twenty travelers' at the Continental check in desk. Two American women had been first in line and behind them was an angry looking man who yelled at my 'companion' in Hebrew. She responded without a smile in Hebrew back to him, and then smiled when I said to the Americans, "I got to cut in front of you, because I am a security risk. I have been to occupied territory and have been writing what I witnessed and learned on the World Wide Web." I handed them my card and added, "I hope you will read all about it and tell your friends."

After receiving my boarding pass, my 'companion' led me on, and as soon as we were out of ear shot from the line of travelers she remarked, "Israelis can be so very rude."

I responded, "So, all this personal attention is just because I told the truth?"

She smiled again but made no comment until we passed through the employees security check and arrived at Passport control. "Sorry to have put you through all this, but it's just our job."

"I know how that is for I have been doing mine in occupied territory and this morning's experience has provided me with my next article."

Marriage wall pains new Israelis

Citizenship's a snap for Jewish immigrants, but Orthodoxy's strict qualification standards won't let many wed.

By Vita Bekker, Special to The Times - July 26, 2007

LOD, ISRAEL — Two years ago, Diana Mirtsin and Alexander Skudalov met on the Internet, and soon their romance turned serious.

She was a 29-year-old pharmacy worker from Ukraine. He was a 32-year-old train technician from Uzbekistan. Both had come to Israel as part of the emigration wave from the former Soviet Union. Four months after they started dating, she became pregnant.

But in the face of Israel's formidable Orthodox religious establishment, their hopes of marrying in the country that gave them citizenship are nearly futile.

Mirtsin is considered Jewish by the Orthodox rabbinate, but Skudalov is not. Like about 300,000 other Israelis — mostly Soviet immigrants — they bump into a closed door on issues of personal status, including marriage and divorce.

Their predicament reflects one of the Jewish state's most intractable divisions: between the powerful Orthodox minority and the more liberal Jewish streams and secular community.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party has promised a law to help those unable to wed because of Jewish religious rules. Israel Our Home, a party in Olmert's coalition that largely represents Soviet immigrants, has proposed a solution resembling a civil marriage, which does not exist in the country.

But the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, also part of the coalition, stands in the way of altering the status quo. Such laws "would hurt the Jewish image of the only Jewish country in the world," party spokesman Roei Lachmanovich said.

Jews account for more than three-quarters of Israel's population, with Muslims, Christians and Druze making up most of the rest. Each religious authority has exclusive control over marriages within its community.

Those without religious classification, or those who wish to marry outside their religion, cannot wed within the country. Israel recognizes marriages conducted abroad for such couples, however, and Cyprus, less than an hour away by plane, is a popular destination for civil wedding ceremonies.

When Mirtsin became pregnant, the couple sought to marry abroad. Already the single mom of a 7-year-old daughter, she didn't want unfavorable attention for having another child out of wedlock.

But the couple's travel plans were put on hold after Mirtsin's high blood pressure complicated her pregnancy.

Now, a year after their daughter's birth, she remains frustrated by the couple's inability to wed in their country.

"Like many women, I want to be registered as married," she said bitterly, seated in their apartment in Lod, a city 10 miles southeast of Tel Aviv that is home to many Russian-speaking immigrants.

She pointed out that Skudalov, whose father was Jewish but mother wasn't, had completed compulsory army service and remained a member of the reserves.

"If there is a war tomorrow, he'll be Jewish enough to fight for Israel," she said. "But he's not Jewish enough to marry here."

Israel's Law of Return allows spouses, children and grandchildren of Jews to immigrate and claim citizenship.

Under that law, about 1 million people have arrived from the former Soviet Union since 1989.

But the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate holds a legal monopoly on marriages and most other matters of personal status among Israeli Jews. It insists on a strict interpretation of traditional Jewish law, defining as a Jew only a person whose mother was Jewish or who has been through an Orthodox conversion.

Among Soviet immigrants, about one-third are caught between Israel's standards and those of the rabbinate — Jewish for purposes of citizenship but not marriage.

The Orthodox regard their monopoly as necessary to preserve the Jewish people. Marriages between those considered Jewish according to religious law and those who aren't could lead to divisions among Jews, they say.

But many non-Orthodox Jews, who make up about three-quarters of the Jewish population here, complain of religious coercion.

Citizen groups have criticized Israel as being the only democratic country in the Western world to so heavily restrict its people when it comes to freedom of choice in marriage.

Even for those who say they have Orthodox Jewish credentials, proving it can be daunting.

Valeria Glitsina, 25, a radio producer who emigrated from Ukraine, and Oleg Yankov, a 30-year-old from Russia who works at the Defense Ministry, met three years ago and have a 1-year-old son. They say they have Jewish mothers and non-Jewish fathers. To prove that, they handed the rabbinate their parents' and grandparents' birth certificates, old family photos showing Jewish holiday celebrations and other documents.

But that wasn't enough. Glitsina was asked to authenticate her documents by sending them to the archives of her childhood city, Odessa, at a cost of $750. The pair dropped their marriage plans because they couldn't bear the financial burden.

"It was a real blow," said Glitsina. "My whole life I suffered in the Ukraine because I was Jewish. But here, I'm not allowed to do things other Jews could do."

Other couples have not let the rabbinate get in the way of celebrating their union.

Alexander Nakaryakov, who came to Israel from Ukraine, and Evgenia Kozlova, who emigrated from Russia, met six years ago at a pub where he worked as a security guard and she as a waitress. Kozlova says family documents proving that her mother is Jewish were lost after World War II. When she and Nakaryakov decided last year to marry, she began an Orthodox conversion but dropped out after a few months when it became grueling.

The pair opted against a civil ceremony abroad because they didn't have enough money.

Finally, they decided to forgo official marital status. Instead, they threw a big party with a ceremony conducted by a so-called secular rabbi, part of a nonreligious movement that strives to bring secular Jews closer to Jewish culture.

"At first, we were ashamed we weren't going to have an Orthodox wedding," Nakaryakov, a biology student, acknowledged. "But at the end, we were happy to have a ceremony that better suited the kind of people we are."

The threat of the `demographic threat`

"The racist discourse has become the norm in Israel and the Jewish world at large. It began with the `danger of assimilation` and `mixed marriages` - a supremely racist term - continued with the `danger of Haredization` and ended with the `peril of the Arab majority.`"

What? where? In Israel? Noooooo, not Israel - we all know that Israel is the prefect little democracy, and that zionism isn't racism - right?

By Gideon Levy, Haaretz - July 21, 2007

Let us share in the happiness of A., a resident of the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) neighborhood of Mea She`arim in Jerusalem who has around 450 descendants. Who cares if they are Haredi? Nor is there any need to mourn the fact that 23 percent of first-graders are Haredi and 22 percent Arabs. This is a natural development in society, and it`s doubtful that any legitimate means exists to prevent it. Anyone who views this as a danger is endangering the character of society far more than the tectonic demographic shifts. If we have indeed reached `the end of Zionism,` the title of a piece by Nehemia Shtrasler on these pages last Thursday, it is not because of demography but because of geography (and morality).

There is no `demographic threat.` There is a threat to society`s values, which will be determined not by statistics but by the amount of social justice. Talk of a `demographic threat` is not legitimate. Imagine what would happen if a discussion were held in the United States or Europe on `the worrisome natural growth of the Jews.` And who here would dare consider publicly the `fertility tendencies` of the Mizrahim - Jews of Middle Eastern descent. The truly dangerous threat is the discussion itself. It attests to the development in our society of very deep racist norms, cloaked in various ways, against the minority groups among us.

Haredim or Arabs - they are sons and daughters of this land. There are no democratic means to prevent them from becoming a larger portion of society in the future. Campaigns to reduce the birthrate are no less outrageous than the concepts of population transfer and ethnic cleansing.

Both the left and right are afflicted with this lethal racism, which stems from arrogance and fear of the other. The right wing is trying to scare us with dire predictions about the natural increase of the country`s Arabs, while at the same time it is trying to annex 3 million Palestinians. The left, equally racist, is trying to scare us with dire predictions about the increase of the ultra-Orthodox population. From certain points of view, the racism against the Haredim is actually more serious: It uses anti-Semitic terminology and lacks the excuse of the national hostility against the Arabs.

The racist discourse has become the norm in Israel and the Jewish world at large. It began with the `danger of assimilation` and `mixed marriages` - a supremely racist term - continued with the `danger of Haredization` and ended with the `peril of the Arab majority.` Demographers and geographers constantly publish forecasts and projections, competing among themselves for the title of chief doomsayer. A putrid stench emanates from the talk about `fertility tendencies,` and the government`s establishment a few years ago of a `Public Council for Demography,` whose members included three senior gynecologists, shows the depths of pathology to which we have sunk.

Is it really important whether 3.5 million Palestinians reside in the territories, as the Palestinian Authority claims, or 2.4 million, as an American-Israeli team claims? One way or another, Israel is not granting them civil rights. Occasionally, another million Jews who `disappeared` from the statistics and preferred to obscure their Jewishness are found in the United States. What difference does it make? The future of the Jewish community will be determined far more by its members` degree of involvement than by their number, just as the future of Israeli society will be determined far more by the relations among its communities than the numerical ratio between them.

Israel is an immigrant society mixed with the native-born, a multicultural mosaic with the potential to become a just society. If the Haredim do not do army service or are not productive enough, the responsibility rests with the secular majority, which allows these phenomena. If the Arabs do not contribute enough, or are even hostile to the state, the state bears much responsibility for this. One can criticize the ultra- Orthodox and Arabs, but not enter their wombs. Children - Haredi, secular or Arab - are a joy if they are cared for properly. Their increase stems not from budgeting but from faith and values. Those who want a country to their own liking here must fight for the emergence of an Israeli ethos that is shared by all elements of society, whatever their size, and discard the racist bookkeeping.