I photographed these in Rami Levy, Sha'ar Binyamin this week. There are two things I love about it. One is the simple beauty of all those Israeli flags flying overhead. and the other is the fact that they were hung by Arabs. Yes, it is the job of the Arab workers to do things like change light-bulbs and decorate the store for Jewish and Israeli Holidays. That includes hanging Israeli flags. Two years ago, I wrote about the worker who begged me not to take his picture doing it.
"They'll kill me" he said, "and you know who they are."This year two Arab workers worked as a team to put up more flags than ever before. They were smiling as if having a grand old time. The past few months, ever, since last summer's war, there haven't been many Arab shoppers in Rami Levy and Yafiz, but lately they seem to have returned. It may be different on "the other side of the green sic line," but I think that the percentage of Arabs working in Rami Levy may be higher than a few years ago.
Contrary to the ideological hallucinations of the loony Left, I see that local Arabs are very happy living under Israeli rule, getting Israeli salaries, benefits, low (yes, we do charge less for many things than in Arab stores) prices and security. Everyone knows that non-Israeli Arabs, even from enemy countries, take advantage of the world-class top Israeli medical care. The Arab clans that work for Rami Levy take care not to get involved in anti-Israel terrorism, because it can endanger the employment of all the family. They do not want a change in the political status quo, since a "Palestinian State" sic would mean the end of their jobs and security.
And that's where our present lack of new coalition government comes in. Bli eyin haraa, all the while that we're without a proper government we haven't seen our representatives negotiating for a Two State Solution sic. Crafting a new and stable coalition is taking up all of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's time. Also without a stable, reliable and disciplined coalition, Netanyahu can't rely on getting Knesset approval for an agreement.
So, at this point, I'm happy. I loved watching Arabs decorating the stores for Israeli Independence Day, and I feel safer knowing that Bibi's hands are tied.
I just hope that Herzog (Tsipi Livni has been kept out of the news) sticks to his principles of not joining with Netanyahu! And if after all the time has expired to make a Likud government, and then Herzog tries and fails, we end up again with elections, so be it. Maybe the so-called Right will get it right and do the Right thing, G-d willing.
