Time to Legally Redefine Who's an Israeli!

I'm very confused about this issue of a law defining people like myself, Israeli citizens who live in Judea and Samaria as "Israeli."

Lapid, Livni Oppose Israeli Law for Jews in Judea, SamariaA bill to apply Israeli law to citizens living in Judea and Samaria was approved by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation today (Sunday, Nov. 9).
But Yesh Atid party chairman Yair Lapid and Hatnua party chairwoman Tzipi Livni – both members of the government cabinet – are opposing its final approval... (Jewish Press)

This makes no sense to me. Why do we need a new law? Or why is our legal status different from Israelis in Tel Aviv or Beersheva?

• My neighbors and I pay Israeli Taxes.
• Our schools follow the Israeli curriculum.
• We have Israeli Passports and Identity Cards.
• We serve in the army, and davka in the most elite (meaning dangerous) units.
• We are part of the excellent Israeli health system.
• We obey Israeli Law and vote in Israeli Elections.
• We are proud loyal Israelis.

Apparently legally we  "live under regulations administered by the Israeli military civil administration," no different from the Arabs nearby.

This is very insulting, that although we are loyal, law-abiding Israelis the government considers us as "second class" citizens. Legally Israeli cities like Nazareth, can have anti-Jewish, anti-Israeli billboards, without much flak, while we are constantly examined under a microscope to make sure we're not interfering with Arabs who are trying to take over our property.

ISIS/Overruning Nazereth Billboard. Photo: Walla News.

A large billboard in Israel’s largest Arab city, Nazareth, is using a play on words in Arabic between ISIS – “Daesh,” and running down with a vehicle – “daes,” to promote vehicular terror attacks against Israelis, Israel’s Walla News reported Sunday.
The billboard – not some private poster hanging on a porch, but rather a professional billboard erected, amazingly enough, close to the city’s police station – can be understood as saying “ISIS/Overrunning Nazareth.” (Algemeiner)

I think it's important to establish and enforce a law revoking citizenship of anyone promoting a Palestinian State to supplant the State of Israel.  Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu must be in campaign mode, because he's suddenly promoting such a law.

Prime Minister Netanyahu condemns recent riots nationwide, and considers taking a rare step by reinstating the law which revokes the citizenship of those undermining Israel's security by calling for its destruction."We will act against those calling to establish a Palestinian state", Netanyahu said yesterday. (Jerusalem online)

I understand that he wants to use it against the Arab MK's and other prominent Israeli Arabs who speak out in favor of "Palestine" versus Israel.  But I find it very easy to stretch its meaning to oppose those pushing for the Two State Solution and withdrawal to the very dangerous pre-June, 1967 borders. 

Food for thought  for sure. What do you think?

Is "Peace in the Middle East" Really Possible?

A few years ago, after discovering a still successful way to lose weight and keep it off, I tried to market myself as a Diet Coach. I couldn't find people willing to pay for my advice, system and support. I think it's because one of my basic principles is that it's not good to aim for an arbitrary weight, even if one's doctor demands it. I believe that one should aim for a livable sustainable, healthy eating regime that will bring a person to a better, healthier weight that can be maintained. I consider myself a pragmatist. This is what has worked for me and although others admire my success, they still prefer someone who will promise them the impossible.

The "peace process" here in the Middle East is actually no different, nor is my approach to it.

Again, I'll remind you that I'm a pragmatist, a CPA's daughter and I see numbers, logic and common sense. When Arab terrorism is still supported and sympathized with by the so-called moderate Arabs, many Israelis across the political spectrum, the international media and most foreign diplomats and "human rights" agencies, I just can't see how there is anything Israel can do to "make peace." Simple logic is what I'm following. People just don't change so quickly and easily. You really can't expect a middle-aged mother of six to get a figure she could barely keep at the age of twenty. Can you?

Just a reminder, there was always Arab violence aka terrorism against Jews in the Holy Land aka Middle East. It's not something modern, and it's not something that just started in 1948 or after the 1967 Six Days War. The cause of the Arab terrorism is not Jewish building in Gilo, Shiloh, Hebron or Har Chomah. Thinking that all Israel has to do is "destroy the settlements" for the Arabs to be happy is like using make-up on skin cancer.

The Holy Land, Eretz Yisrael, under Ottoman Rule was a sleepy backwater. There was always a Jewish presence and there was always violence and discrimination against the Jewish communities. The problem wasn't the Jews; the problem was that the few Arabs who had lived here didn't want any Jews around. Arabs attacked Jews; Arab terrorism against Jews isn't new, gotten from Wikipedia:

• 350 years ago,  1660 destruction of Safed, "The towns of Safed and nearby Tiberias, with substantial Jewish communities, were destroyed in the turmoil.^{[citation needed]} Only a few of the former residents of Safed had returned to the town after the destruction.^[5][6] Sholem considers the 1662 reports about the destruction of Safed as "exaggerated".^[7] The community however recovered within several years, whereas Tiberias lay in waste for decades."
• In April 1920, a three-day rampage by religiously incited anti-Zionist Arab mobs left six dead and 200 injured in the Jewish Quarter. The attackers gutted synagogues and yeshivot and ransacked homes.  Myths and Facts
• Hebron riots and massacre of Jews in 1929-But, on the night of August 23, 1929, the tension simmering within this cauldron of nationalities bubbled over and for a period of three days, Hebron turned into a city of terror and murder as the Arab residents led a rampaging massacre against the bewildered and helpless Jewish community. By the time the massacre ended, 67 Jews lay dead - their homes and synagogues destroyed - and the few hundred survivors were relocated to Jerusalem.  The aftermath left Hebron barren of Jews for the first time in hundreds of years.

There are many, many more examples. The root of Arab terrorism runs deep and can't be erased, deleted by a fancy festive "peace signing" no matter who or what is the so-called mediator or event planner.

The simple fact is that the Arabs, with the complicity of the world, as during the rise of the Nazis, want to destroy Jewish life and the State of Israel. The so-called "peace process" sic is a sham. It's a sophisticated way to get the State of Israel to self-destruct, G-d forbid.

It's time for us to stop cooperating with peace sic negotiations and only do what's best to strengthen the State of Israel.

• First step is to declare full and uncompromising sovereignty over all of the Land we hold. 
• Large building projects must be started all over Judea and Samaria for Jews and Jews only. That will lower housing costs and increase the standard of living. 
• Mandatory death Penalty for all Arab terrorists, no matter their age, sex or health condition.
• Another important change is to add a loyalty clause and basic Israeli history test to the process of becoming an Israeli citizen, even for Jews.
• With Israeli citizenship privileges come responsibilities.

A pragmatic peace will take a long time, but it will be maintainable, G-d willing.

Renouncing United States Citizenship, Effective Protest?

My fellow blogger and mainstay of Havel Havelim, the one and only Esser Agarot, has announced that he has begun the process of renouncing his American Citizenship.

There was a time when American immigrants olim to Israel had to choose between holding onto their American citizenship and refusing Israeli citizenship or giving up (renouncing) American citizenship when they became Israeli citizens. Soon before our aliyah the law in the states changed which made it possible to be dual Israeli and American citizens.  Actually, it wasn't the law, it was the interpretation of the law by the Supreme Court Justices.  As one of my Great Neck North Social Studies teachers, whose name I have unfortunately forgotten, used to say:

"American Law is whatever five out of nine Supreme Court Justices say it is."

He made it clear that there was a fluidity in Law due to interpretations, which doesn't require actually rewriting the law.

The problematic issue in being both American and Israeli had to do with serving in the Israeli Army, if I remember correctly.  It was permitted to be drafted, but if an American enlisted in the IDF, it could be seen as a disloyalty which would endanger citizenship.  So, in the middle of the 1960's Israeli citizenship was written tailor-made to suit American immigrants. There was a status of "Temporary Resident" that automatically morphed into full citizen after three years unless the person went to the Israeli Ministry of the Interior and filled out a form refusing citizenship.  There was no such procedure when I brought my father on aliyah a few years ago.

There was a time when Israeli dual citizens could serve in the Knesset as MK's, but it was changed.  One of the steps one must do to run for a seat in the Knesset is give up aka renounce all foreign citizenship, which does make sense. I think all elected office holders and even other high ranking public officials should be required to give up foreign citizenship. Since I've never even attempted any such lofty job or postilion, it doesn't affect me personally.

But here we're dealing with pragmatic question. Is foreign citizenship a matter of national loyalty or is it just the convenience of not needing to deal with visas when traveling to various other countries? Recent American citizenship laws or rulings have expanded on the rights of expatriates like myself to not only permit our foreign born children to be eligible for an American passport (though not full-citizenship including voting rights) but the children of those children, too. My grandchildren have all gone to the states to finalize their USA citizenship and now have passports and won't need visas to enter the United States.

Since over the decades we're here my husband is in touch with American Consular Officials people come to us with visa nightmare stories.  We have been able to help on very rare occasions. Nowadays the decisions aren't made locally.  Once someone is refused a visa to the states he or she is pretty-much blacklisted for quite a while.  I don't see the point in risking being forbidden a visit to family.

I'm glad that we never had to choose between the country of our birth and the country of our choice!

Esser Agaroth has chosen to give up his citizenship as a protest.

But, simply put, the U. S. is no longer my country.  How many times on Esser Agaroth have I said that Israel is the only true homeland of the Jewish People? A lot. Why should I keep my U. S. citizenship? For travel? For emergencies? Well, I have already gotten those scenarios covered, and I can use my Israeli passport,...if I really needed to. I have not left Eretz Yisra'el in 15 years, and have not set foot in the U. S. for 16 years, and have no intention of ever doing so again.

So Far and Yet So Near

Also, why on earth should I allow the government of a country, not my own, continue to stick its nose into my business, financial and otherwise?
I have also not voted since before the presidential election of 2000, due to never getting my application for an absentee in time, in order to send it back in time, in order to receive my absentee ballot with enough time to send it back on time. Bush vs. Gore. Remember that one?

Esser Agaroth's decison is his own and it suits him. It's not for me.