As part of Israeli Apartheid Week 2007...tomorrow night in Montreal:
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights presents:
"Debunking the Myth of Israeli Democracy"
Speaker:
Dr. Jamal Zahalqa
Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, and member of the National Democratic Assembly (Balad) Party
Thursday February 15th 2007
8:30pm
Concordia University, Hall Building (on DeMaisoneuve) room H-937
Dr. Jamal Zahalka is a Palestinian Israeli and member of the Israeli Knesset. Zahalka will be speaking about the nature of Israeli apartheid and how it operates within Israel to discriminate against the indigenous Palestinian minority. His lecture will expose the brutal reality faced by the Palestinian citizens of Israel and debunk the myth of "Israeli democracy".
As Israel and its global backers like Canada and the United States tighten the strangulation hold on the Palestinian people in an attempt to provoke Palestinian infighting; and while the Israeli military continues its brutal daily assault on Palestinian life, it is crucial that people in the rest of the world wake up to the apartheid nature of the Israeli state, and it is our collective responsibility to expose and isolate this regime until apartheid is dismantled.
The analysis of apartheid put forward during Israeli Apartheid Week in previous years has played an important role in raising awareness and disseminating information about Zionism, the Palestinian liberation struggle, as well as the connections with the Aboriginal sovereignty struggle on Turtle Island and the South African Anti-Apartheid movement. The analysis put forward in the week is spreading on a global scale, and this Israeli Apartheid Week is taking place simultaneously in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, New York, Oxford, Cambridge and London.
Visit the "End Israeli Aparthied" Website for events near you.
8 comments:
This is just another illustration of Israeli democracy. Note the fact that these guys are
a) Members of Knesset and
b) giving speeches like this
In every Arab country I can think of people who hold views opposing that of the government to this extend would be in prison rather than in the Parliament.
As Abraham Lincoln, said democracy is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people."
In the case of Israel that is the case too...as long as you are one of the "chosen" people and NOT one of it's indigenous Arab population.
Shlem,
Your comment shows:
a) your ignorance and
b) your continued racist attitude toward Arab speaking people in general.
If you include expelling hundreds of thousands of people from an area so that you can have a majority "a democracy", then I guess Israel is a democracy...and I'm not just talkling about 1948! That effort continues right up to today in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
In preparation for a total annexation of the West Bank every effort is being made to force/(encourage) the remaining indigenous population to leave so that they can continue to have "a democracy".
Wouldn't you be happy if PM Harper could just "transfer" the population of people that he knows wouldn't agree with his ideology!! They could win every time!! Great idea huh?!?!
Abu-Issa
Read more about Jamal Zahalka's lectures here.
I have to agree with shlemazl here. Israel does have its problems but you know name me one country that will allow member of its parliament to go to a different country and talk about its problems. Even in US, such a person would be called unpatriotic and received a lot of negative media attention.
I truly think that it is amazing that there are palestinian ministers in knesset. This already means that they have a voice!!!
Morris Motamed is a Jewish member of the Iranian Parliament, elected first in 2000 and then again in 2004.
If you're prepared to announce that Iran is a democracy because of this, I will announce that Israel is a democracy, too.
Having a Palestinian member of parliament doesn't mean that Palestinians in Israel have equal rights, or are treated well by the government or by fellow citizens.
Sorry to burst your bubble...
Think about this for a moment, when Israel was created just 58 years ago the Jewish population of Palestine was only about 30% (about 80-85% of them recent immigrants)...imagine if there had been a referendum on the issue of creating a Jewish state in Palestine...what do you think the outcome would have been? Despite the obvious answer, quite UN-democratically Palestinians were not asked and the Jewish state was legislated into being by a third party...are you still with me?
Now, the newly declared state of Israel had a problem...there were too many now-Jews around. If they were going to feign being a democracy they needed to tip the scale in their favor, which they did by expelling some 800,000 non-Jewish Palestinians...most of whom where brutally forced out of their homes...others who were simply shot on the spot. In one form or another this tactic of intimidation continues right up until today [1][2][3], it's ultimate goal being the total ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
Is this democracy in action? I think not.
Abu-Issa
p.s. ...please follow the links I provided above, you will get a true understanding of what Palestinians are fighting for and why they have to keep fighting...
Abu,
I suspect you are aware that Iranian Parliament has 0 power. It does not matter that the elections are rigged. Not even the Iranian President has much real power. The country is ruled by an unelected Supreme Leader and his cronies.
Iran is a theocracy rather than a democracy. Nothing in common with Israeli Knesset which has REAL power and is elected fairly with free press and selection of candidates.
I am sure you know all this, but your statement above is another beautiful demonstration why you are a demagogue. I don't understand what is the attraction of playing with words on your blog? Do you think people are stupid?
As for the foundation of Israel,
- There was no country called Palestine. The results of your referendum would have depended on which locations would have been asked. The area that became Israel would have said "Yes".
- I can think of very few countries founded by referenda. Mostly it's by conquests or revolts and wars.
- It's history. As for realities of today... Israel is there for everyone to see and is the best place in the Middle East for its citizens, including Arab citizens who have a right to vote, whose women are treated well and who are not leaving Israel for other Arab countries. Palestinians have a disfunctional quasi-fascist entity suppressing its press, killing each other and shooting missiles and sending terrorists to neighbours (including Egypt) with the programme to exterminate all Jews.
I also note how Pro-Mullah Motamed is on his trips abroad. He also supports anti-Israeli movements and nuclear Iran. His claim that Jews live better than Iranians is ridiculous - clearly they are discriminated in law; I am not even talking about constant "spy" incarcerations.
I doubt any of it is sincere though. The reason he hasn't fled is that he has family back in Iran. I remember this approach to potential "refusniks" back in the USSR.
Do you still think you comparison is anything but proof that you are a demagogue?
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