Alarmed at the recent massive influx of non-Arab minorities into Israel, rabbis in Israel recently banned Jews from renting to non-Jews. The ban is a terrible idea that addresses a real problem of the growing de-Judaization of Israel, and was met with sharp criticism by many who ignore the real problem. Meanwhile, if it is wrong to discriminate in housing, should it not be wrong to discriminate no matter who does it? If it is wrong for Jews not to rent to Arabs, is it not equally wrong for Arabs not to rent to Jews?
In East Jerusalem, a hotel was demolished by a private investor in order to construct housing for Jews. No less than the Secretary of State of the US condemned the move. Now, the hotel was purchased legally for the purpose of constructing housing for Jews amidst preexistent housing for Arabs. To protest this move is to say that Jews are not allowed to live next to Arabs exactly the same as to say that Arabs are not allowed to live next to Jews. Yet, the various civil rights bodies and others who objected to the rabbinical ban have, to our knowledge, raised no objection to the comments of the Secretary of State and the various Palestinian objectors to the hotel demolition. Discrimination is wrong, it seems, depending on who practices it.
Should it be objected that the demolition of a hotel in East Jerusalem is really a political act, not a housing matter, it should be noted that Arabs are allowed to buy and sell and rent in Jewish West Jerusalem. It happens often. Visit the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem, for example. If Arab freedom is not political, and it isnt, then Jewish freedom to buy and sell and rent in East Jerusalem is also not political.
The only thing political here is that the process of the purchase of this hotel began in 1985 26 years ago. The idea that a Jew could buy property in East Jerusalem was so politicized that more than a quarter of a century passed before the act could be completed. Also, the number of houses to be built on the site was scaled back about fivefold. Clearly, also a political consideration.
What we have here is really the idea that Jews should just get used to the fact that they should expect no rights in a Palestinian state, but that non-Jews should be extended every right in a Jewish state. Discrimination is wrong, whoever practices it.
Typically, American leaders do not call a spade a spade. If they object to the demolition of a hotel in Arab East Jerusalem, then, no matter what the basis of the objections are, Israel must accept them. Otherwise, the American leaders say, the peace process is set back. Just the opposite. The more it is said that Arabs should have the right to live in Jewish areas, but that Jews should not have the right to live in Arab areas, Arabs have no reason to engage in peace talks.
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News
