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las
Citizen
Username: Las
Post Number: 1413
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 12:11 pm: | 
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Are Israeli Settlers on the West Bank/Gaza commonly referred to Jewish Settlers?
I heard the phrase Jewish Settlors this morning on NPR (approx 7:10 am, news from Washington I believe) and it really left me, well, unsettled. Maybe I've never noticed the use of the word Jewish to define a settler before, but today it really struck me that a group of Israeli's are defined by their religion as opposed to their nationality.
Specifically the news clip spoke of 70,000 Jewish Settlers who would have to be relocated, and in my mind I saw seventy thousand migrant Jews searching for a safe place. Is that an intentional bias in the reporting or this typical?
Many thanks for any insight.
- Lynn |
themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2730
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 2:57 pm: |
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Israel is a self-described Jewish state.
The term "Jewish Settlers" turns up in many news sources if you do a search in google news (Fox, NYTimes, Houston Chronicle, Forbes, etc)
Scientologists these settler aren't. |
Hoops
Citizen
Username: Hoops
Post Number: 993
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 3:56 pm: |
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Isnt it true that you have to be Jewish to be a citizen? Its a very weird democracy isnt it? |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 1856
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 4:25 pm: |
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Hoops:
From the website of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs: verbatim.
"Acquisition of Israeli Nationality
Israel's Nationality Law relates to anyone wishing to settle in Israel, as well as those already residing or born there, regardless of race, religion, creed, sex or political beliefs. Citizenship may be acquired by:
# Birth
# The Law of Return
# Residence
# Naturalization
Acquisition of Nationality by Birth is granted to:
# Persons who were born in Israel to a mother or father who are Israeli citizens.
# Persons born outside Israel, if their father or mother holds Israeli citizenship, acquired either by birth in Israel, according to the Law of Return, by residence, or by naturalization.
# Persons born after the death of one of their parents, if the late parent was an Israeli citizen by virtue of the conditions enumerated above at the time of death.
# Persons born in Israel, who have never had any nationality and subject to limitations specified in law, if they:
* apply for it in the period between their 18th and 25th birthday and
* have been residents of Israel for five consecutive years, immediately preceding the day of the filing of their application.
Acquisition of Nationality according to the Law of Return
On the establishment of the State, its founders proclaimed "...the renewal of the Jewish State in the Land of Israel, which would open wide the gates of the homeland to every Jew...." In pursuance of this tenet, the State of Israel has absorbed survivors of the Holocaust, refugees from the countries in which they had resided, as well as many thousands of Jews who came to settle in Israel of their own volition.
The Law of Return (1950) grants every Jew, wherever he or she may be, the right to come to Israel as an oleh (a Jew immigrating to Israel) and become an Israeli citizen.
For the purposes of this Law, "Jew" means a person who was born of a Jewish mother or has converted to Judaism and is not a member of another religion.
Israeli citizenship becomes effective on the day of arrival in the country or of receipt of an oleh's certificate, whichever is later. A person may declare, within three months, that he/she does not wish to become a citizen.
Since 1970 the right to immigrate under this Law has been extended to include the child and the grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew. The purpose of this amendment is to ensure the unity of families where intermarriage had occurred; it does not apply to persons who had been a Jews and had voluntarily changed their religion.
An oleh's certificate may be denied to persons who:
* engage in activity directed against the Jewish people;
* may endanger public health or the security of the state;<
* have a criminal past, likely to endanger public welfare.
Acquisition of by Residence
Special provision is made in the Nationality Law for former citizens of British Mandatory Palestine. Those who remained in Israel from the establishment of the State in 1948 until the enactment of the Nationality Law of 1952 became Israeli citizens by residence or by return.
According to an amendment (1980), further possibilities to acquire citizenship by residence were included in the law.
Acquisition of Nationality by Naturalization
Adults may acquire Israeli citizenship by naturalization at the discretion of the Minister of the Interior and subject to a number of requirements, such as:
# they must have resided in Israel for three years out of five years preceding the day of submission of the application;
# they are entitled to reside in Israel permanently and have settled or intended to settle in Israel;
# they have renounced their prior nationality, or have proved that they will cease to be foreign nationals upon becoming Israeli citizens.
The Minister of the Interior may exempt an applicant from some of these requirements."
End of quote.
By the way, I think that there are "weirder" democracies, such as those which have absolutely no control over their own borders and who have very little knowledge of who is within their borders.
Not that I am pointing fingers at any "democracy"... |
joel dranove
Citizen
Username: Jdranove
Post Number: 243
Registered: 1-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 5:04 pm: |
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You don't have to be Jewish to be a citizen, as the million Arab citizens can attest, including their members of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, duly elected.
But, you do need to call settlers Jewish to prove your anti-Semitism.
jd |
Hoops
Citizen
Username: Hoops
Post Number: 997
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 5:13 pm: |
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Innis - thanks for posting the requirements. So then is it a true statement that all citizens, whatever their religion, have full and equal rights to every other citizen?
If so then what prevents an influx of Arabs from just emigrating, taking residence for 5 years, applying for citizenship and then voting themselves a majority seat in Parliament? Seems like that would be a whole lot easier then militancy. |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 1860
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 5:25 pm: |
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Don't know the answer. I pasted the exact wording from the Ministry's website.
Israelis would probably exert the same type of control that most other countries do by reviewing the status of every applicant for citizenship and increasing the requirements if an national or outside ethnic group threatened to become too numerous.
On the other hand, look at the impracticality of your "what-if." Several hundred thousand or a million Arabs spending five years in residence to apply for citizenship in Israel, taking an oath of allegiance to a state they despise and whose existence they wish to eradicate.
Oh, yeah, super plan that one. I wonder why the Arabs didn't think of it. |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 11092
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 5:30 pm: |
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Are Muslim and Druid Israeli citizens moving to the West Bank and Gaza in significant numbers? If not, using the term "Jewish settlers" is more specific than using the term "Israeli settlers". I don't think it is anti-Semitic to be quite honest.
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Hoops
Citizen
Username: Hoops
Post Number: 998
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 5:57 pm: |
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thats me, full of great ideas... |
las
Citizen
Username: Las
Post Number: 1427
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 9:21 am: |
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I heard it again today (same news program): Jewish Settlers.
I did your searches, Themp, and yes, each term comes up about half the time. I agree Bobk, using the term Jewish Settlers isn't anti-semitic per se, but I believe it desensitizes us to accepting use of the word Jewish as an adjective. After all, Israel isn't having border disputes with Muslims.
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Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 2700
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 10:43 am: |
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While I agre with some of the points above, the reality is that the reason these people are settling there is because they are Jewish. They have a believe that it is their duty to settle in those areas. So I don't believe it is offensive or incorrect to identify them as Jewish Settlers. |
Eats Shoots & Leaves
Citizen
Username: Mfpark
Post Number: 3170
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 10:51 am: |
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Las: The line gets blurred in Israel all the time, often for not-so-subtle reasons mentioned above (such as ignoring the fact that there are many Arab Israelis). For example, here is what Olmert said yesterday in reaction to Kadima's thin victory:
Mr. Olmert then declared: "In the coming period, we will move to set the final borders of the State of Israel, a Jewish State with a Jewish majority." He said he would "work to do this through negotiations, in an agreement with the Palestinians." (emphasis added)
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themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2732
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 12:04 pm: |
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Look at the declaration issued when Israel was founded. Jewish is used as an adjective to describe Israel. |
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