Comments on: The New Colossus

By: macaquerman

macaquerman — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:37:57 +0000

I too am often confused, and was further confused by your statement that Israeli law doesn’t permit religious conversion.
I’ve a vague idea that there is something in there somewhere about people under 18 years, but know nothing else
Can you give me any link to back up your statement?

By: xopher

xopher — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:47:38 +0000

Oops, I got confused by the name ‘macaquerman’. Part of my post above is addressed to that poster, while the first part is addressed to Spencer. Please excuse my befuddlement; it was my first post here.

By: xopher

xopher — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:43:57 +0000

Excellent post! Most people only know the sestet (and leave out part of that), and thus fail to recognize this as an Italian Sonnet. It should be quoted in full more often, to show up the nativists as the unAmerican slime they are.

While I agree that csp1 is being a putz, and marvel at your tolerance for permitting him to call you names on your own blog, he does have this fact (almost) right. I have this from an Israeli expat, but I don’t have the actual text handy, so this if from memory.

It’s not an explicit law; the Kahanists tried to pass one (and they borrowed the language directly from the Nuremburg Laws), but it was defeated. Here’s how it works:

1. When you’re born in Israel, your religion is noted on your birth certificate.
2. You are not permitted to change your religion under Israeli law.*
3. You can only be married by duly appointed clergy of your religion. Co-celebration is not permitted.

These facts taken together outlaw interfaith marriages, which is why I said csp1 was almost right. Note that it prevents a Christian Israeli Arab from marrying a Moslem Israeli Arab too, but I suspect that’s an unintended consequence.
____
*This contradicts the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but I have no idea whether Israel ever signed that.

By: brantl

brantl — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:14:52 +0000

You really are a schmuck, for just the reasons that Spence says.

By: csp1

csp1 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:48:55 +0000

France may be a state for French people but an ethnic Basque Frenchman is free to move from his village in the Pyrenees and reside in Paris or wherever he chooses. Mustafa Barghouti can not do that in his native land. This is racism and America tacitly supports it thru our annual offerings of billions in aid.

Once again, Buchanan tribalism is evil but Israel tribalism is good. It’s hypocricy.

By: Spencer Ackerman

Spencer Ackerman — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:09:36 +0000

I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one on this thread who’s had dinner with Mustafa Barghouti. And I know for a fact that I’ll be dining with him tomorrow night as well.

CSP1: No, fuck you. The U.S. is not a nation-state. Israel is. Comparisons along those lines are therefore category errors. Much as France is a state for the French people, so too is Israel, and so on. I favor a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people — a state that gives Barghouti his rights and his dignity and his freedom and everything else he deserves as a human being. I did not write a thing yesterday about “minority rights” in Israel. I wrote about the character of Zionism, and how the lack of giving Barghouti and his countrymen precisely that state imperils Israel in an existential way.

Your little Pat Buchanan apologies are rather, shall we say, interesting.

Congratulations. This has been the last time I will ever address you.

By: csp1

csp1 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:01:18 +0000

There is no civil law marriage in Israel as marriages are performed only by the religious communities. Jonathan Cook from The National has a couple stories about this including one about armed gangs of Israelis prowling the streets in order to prevent females from dating arabs.

http://www.jkcook.net/Articles3/0426.htm
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090907/FOREIGN/709069840/0/national

By: macaquerman

macaquerman — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:44:15 +0000

Which Israeli law prohibits marriage between Arab and Jew?

By: csp1

csp1 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:36:30 +0000

People should learn about Mustafa Barghouti. He is a Palestinian doctor and non-violent activist who was born in Jerusalem. However, he is restricted by the Israeli government from entering or living in the city of his birth.

Yet Jews born and raised in Moscow or NY can get on an airplane and immediately become an Israeli citizen and obtain a residence in East Jerusalem. Barghouti can not.

So my point is that American Jews favor unlimited immigration to America while at the same time supporting Israeli policies that prevent the native born Barghouti from living in the city of his birth.

Not to mention the fact that it is against the law for an arab to marry a jew in Israel just as it was once against the law for a black to marry a white in some American states 50 years ago.

Jews in America fight for the rights of minorities but these same people support racist policies so that members of their own tribe remain a majority in a country thousands of miles away. They call Pat Buchanan a racist for calling for an American border fence yet cheer for a fence in Israel.

Minority rights are good in America. Minority rights are bad in Israel.

By: macaquerman

macaquerman — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:19:33 +0000

You may not understand what the fuck you’re talking about, but at least you’re not shy.