Are The Druze Jews?

Some Israelis feel that they are not respected by their government or considered to be "authentic Israelis" because the Israeli government has deemed them a separate community living amongst the Israel borders. On top of that, Ashkenazic Society sees Ethiopian Jews or Druze as not real Israelis because their traditions, and even their religious beliefs, have changed so much over the years while away from the motherland.

 In Donna Rosenthal's novel, Ordinary Poeople in an Extraordinary Land The Israelis, she dedicates an entire chapter to the Druze and their acceptance into Israel. She states, "The Israeli government officially designates the Druze as a separate religious community, Which means they have their own religious courts, which oversee marriage,divorce, alimony, propery, and other matters..." (Rosenthal 294) The Druze have experience hardship in Israel since their migration into the country for the reason that the Jews don't see them as Jews, they see them as Arabs. While some Israelis don't feel a need to integrate Druze into the Israeli culture, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he believes empowering the Druze and bridging the gap towards equality is at the top of his list when it comes to the issue of their authenticity. Especially because of the Druze involvement in the IDF and the Border Police, Netanyahu believes that these people are deserving of feeling just as Israeli as the rest of their statesmen. "Jews look at us Arabs and the Arabs call us the buddies of the Jews." (Rosenthal 298) The Druze are not the only people of Israel that feel unwelcome.

   Ethiopian Jews arrived from Ethiopia on May 23 in 1991 and once they were in the Promised Land they were not as prepared for society as Israeli's might have expected. "In the hotel lobby, a puzzled newcomer struggled to open a can of Coke, unaware that the white sheet she was draped in toga-style was meant for her bed, not her body. A group of Ethiopians pondered how to use a pay phone." (Rosenthal 151) The Ethiopians were so out of touch from the real world because of their exile to Africa where they lived in huts and did not have modern technologies. Due to this, Ethiopian Jews have been discriminated against by their fellow Israeli neighbors, due to the fact they are not like the traditional Jew and because of how long they have been away from the Promised Land. Still affecting them to this day, as discussed in Tamar Pileggi in her article Ethiopians unable to wed in Petah Tikva, Where Rabbis Doubt their Jewishness, the discriminatory practices of Sephardic Rabbis towards Ethiopians not allowing them to marry because they would deem them as not Jewish enough, therefore could not be married under Rabbinic Law.

    Both articles used in this post come from The Times of Israel, Tamar Pileggi discussing the issue of Ethiopian Jews not being able to get married under Rabbinic Law and a collective of The Times of Israel staff writing about Netanyahu's views and feelings towards the Druze that live in Israel. Pileggi is a breaking news reporter who shows no bias when reporting the issues of the Ethiopians, as she has done before when reporting on breaking stories involving bombings, IDF and political shifts. just reporting on the hard facts and statements made by people close to the situations. The Times of Israel staff did a good job discussing Netanyahu's commitment to helping equalize the lives of the Druze in Israel, using the Prime Minister's own quotes to discuss the issue. The staff seems to write on the side of Prime Minister Netanyahu, showing how his kind heartedness towards the Druze makes him a good leader.

Tolerance for Homosexuality and Sexual Permissiveness in Israel

  In Israeli society some communities are not open or tolerant to the idea of homosexuality and sexual permissiveness because it goes against the religion they believe in and practice. Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Ashkenazim, Mizrahim and Israeli Arabs, mostly on the side of the older generation, see gays and lesbians as sinners or even "monsters." Due to the fact that so many people were afraid to speak and live their truths, such things like data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, showing the population of Israel from 1990-2009 shows no data for gay or lesbian men, married or not married throughout it. People since the early 2000's, if not before then, have had to experience and deal with the criticism and abandonment from their own families, while such institutions like the military accept them with open arms. In every community in Israel, the population was increasing throughout that 19 year period.  Israel as a country has been a leading advocate for the LGBTQ community, but some of its own people are not as accepting.

  Through data obtained from the CBS(Central Bureau of Statistics) the rates of population growth of different religions of people living throughout Israel is shown. The CBS being a well regulated and respected agency on census like information, provides factual data of the birth rates, population growths and other information regarding the inhabitants of the country. During the years of 1990, 2000 and 2009 Jews and Christians had the lowest fertility rates, but enough to keep a stable population, while Muslims and Druze had the highest but most fluctuating. Information like this shows the sexual permissiveness of people in Israel, that Jews and Christians may see sex as more of an after marriage or religious experience, while others may not.

  In the settlements in areas such as the West Bank, Ultra-Orthodox communities reside, practicing their religious beliefs and living their days as normally as they can in war-torn Israel. Girls being sent to all girl Orthodox high schools and being taught not to have sex with boys, while the boys go to school until the age were they are able to be drafted into the army. For them the thought of homosexuality wasn't a thing because everyone knew how forbidden it was according to Judaism and if it was it was a secret some would take to their grave, or until their parents passed away. On Israeli Orthodox girl recalls the time her parents discovered her brothers sexuality and the pain it hurt her to see what he had to deal with, knowing she was in the same boat as him. She states, "They said being homosexual is against Judaism... I didn't say anything. what I really wanted to say is, 'If you're so worried about having grandchildren, you'd better worry about me too.'"(Rosenthal 361) Just like her parents, many other Israeli citizens, Jewish or Arab, feel strongly about what a family should look like.

  On April 10th of this year, a banner was hung from the Prima Park Hotel in Jerusalem, stating the feelings of many Israeli's throughout parts of the country, that families are defined by a strict definition. According to Shuki Sadeh in her article in Haaretz entitled, "Who's Behind anti-LGBT, anti-Reform Sign in Israeli Cities?" these signs stated, "A mother and a father = a family," promoting the sentiment of intolerance towards homosexuality. Through non-bias language, Sadeh goes on to explain who is behind all of the signs and posters being spread around Israeli communities and comes to the realization that a movement by the name of Hazon, affiliated but not tied to the Ultra-Orthodox, was the one spending nearly $7,000 U.S. dollars to erect them. As the signs were eventually taken down and lawsuits were handed out, the company in charge of putting up and displaying the ad felt little remorse towards it, alluding to the fact that according to legal advice from city officials, "there was no reason to prevent its being posted." Not only does this show that anti-homosexuality sentiment in Israeli communities is still alive and prevalent, despite the tremendous strides that Israel has taken in LGBTQ advocation, but that religion still has a stronghold over people's feelings towards sexuality.

Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas

 The Gaza Strip or just Gaza is governed by an organization called Hamas, which is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamist fundamentalist organization, sustaining itself by having its own military wing and a social service department.  

  On Tuesday Hamas released that they had been made aware of a timeline from Israel on the ceasefire agreement the two sides had been working on. During talks in the Gaza Strip, Egyptians gave Israel the demands Hamas had asked for in order to come together for a ceasefire, including the removal of signal jammers and sanctions against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. As well, the fishing zone has already been expanded to the 28 kilometers that were asked for, and including the ability to cross between the borders of Israel and the Gaza Strip was allowed. With the money funded to Hamas from Qatari, Hamas also asked Egypt and Qatar to help get rid of sanctions against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails after the meeting between the UN envoy for the Middle East, Nickolay Mladnenov and Hamas leaders did not come to the resolutions they were hoping for. As well on the Israel side, a vote had not been taken in the cabinet about the agreement over a ceasefire but nothing could be resolved until the two Israeli civilians would be returned to their homes as well as the remains of two fallen Israeli soldiers. All these demands are in hopes of an agreement to end the violence and start a new wave of peace in the region.  

  When it comes to the article, “Hamas: We Received Timeline for Ceasefire with Israel,” written by Khaled Abu Toameh, the viewpoint of Toameh is hard to find because of his use of neutral language when it comes to discussing the issues of the ceasefire. Throughout the article Toameh keeps his biases to himself and is just reporting the facts and information that he is aware of and that is factual. I do believe that his viewpoint is from that of a Palestinian civilian who may be a supporter of Hamas, or just someone who wants the violence to stop. In the article, most of the topics discussed are from the Hamas point of view or talking about their wants, demands or feelings towards the things needed in order to agree on a ceasefire. His discussion is limited on the side of Israel, only discussing the fact that no agreement will be made unless the two Israeli civilians were returned as well as the remains of the two Israeli soldiers who died in an operation in 2014.  

  The reliability of the data in this article could be up for question, since Toameh reports most of the facts from sources. Specific sources are not always given, except for quotes from United Nations Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov about the discussions that took place in Gaza. In other examples Toameh says things like, said the sources or according to an Israeli source allowing us to debate is the information given to us coming from a person who is involved or at least a part of the talks, or just someone of Israeli descent talking about the ceasefire agreement. As well the reliability of the data could also be up for debate because Toameh repeats himself quite a few times when discussing the topic, showing that there might not truly be enough information to report on yet. Most of the sources Toameh would report from would also say that no agreement has truly been made or voted on by either side, leaving not only much discussion for the leaders to have, but giving the population not enough information to really understand what is happening. 

International Issues Can Not Be Resolved On Social Media

On March 21, 2019 President Donald Trump announced via Twitter that the United States would “fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights”, prompting Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian negotiator and the chair of the Palestine Liberation Organization to warn that this announcement would cause more destabilization in the Middle East. According to the article, a lot of people are against this announcement; Druze leaders in Golan Heights calling the U.S President delusional, stating that the announcement does nothing for Golan Heights regarding international law, also expressing that President Trump only made the announcement to help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hamas, the Gaza organization, states that President Trump’s proclamation on Twitter is a violation and a contradiction of what international community stands for, considering it to be an act of aggression to Arab nations. Trump’s “Deal of the Century” caused Israel’s Arab parties to also comment, stating that Trump’s social media declaration is acting against the United Nations resolutions according to United Arab List-Balad, additionally stating that Trump made this decision at the expense of the residents living in Golan and in support of Israeli occupation. United Arab List-Balad also considered this announcement to be in support of the poor and hostile human rights policies made by the Trump Administration. The only person in support of Trump’s announcement was Dimtry Apartzev, the mayor of one of the biggest cities in Golan, Katzrin, saying that the announcement will ‘bring about another leap in the momentum of development of the Golan and Katzrin, its capital”.

The reliability of the data that is in this article relating to President Trump’s comments on Israel’s capital and the sovereignty of the Golan Heights is strong due to the fact that it comes from such a publication like Haaretz and that every talking point is fact checked and sourced. Everything that was specifically discussed throughout the article was factual because it either was a direct quote of what the person was saying or it was paraphrased and linked to the full statement of said person. All facts relating to the Golan Heights and Jerusalem as well as statements made by PLO or other Arab nation officials were all checked and sourced factually from what they were taken from. Such examples such as the use of UN resolution 497, that the Golan Heights is an occupied Arab territory, is a factual and real resolution of the United Nations when it comes to the occupation and sovereignty of the Golan Heights.

The author of this article, “Trump’s Golan Recognition Will Cause Bloodshed, Top Palestinian Negotiator Warns,” is Jack Khoury, a writer for the Haaretz website. Khoury seems to be, throughout his article, a very unbiased and straight to the fact type of writer when it comes to the issues of Palestine and Israel. Writing many other articles related to this topic, Khoury does seem to have a peak interest or experience in the Arab-Israeli conflict and is good at not promoting one side rather than the other. Although you can slightly tell by some of the language he uses that his feelings are more sympathetic to the Palestinian side. When writing for this article, Khoury was decided on the idea of providing very little to no commentary of his own in the article and just sticking straight to the facts, the quotes and where and who they came from. Khoury also seems to have a tendency to write articles regarding the Palestinian leadership or higher ups feelings towards the remarks of the current United States President, Donald Trump. Jack Khoury’s article discussing the reactions and responses of Palestinian, Arab and Israeli leaders to President Donald Trump’s comments was a very unbiased and straight to the point article with no agenda of convincing people to choose a side.

   In December of 2017, the Trump Administration announced that they recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, moving the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, at the disapproval of Palestinians, who had cut ties with the Trump Administration, labeling it unfit to mediate due to bias policies. This past Monday, in the hopes of collaborating on “a single diplomatic mission”, the previous consulate building that predominantly served the Palestinian community in Jerusalem, integrated activities with the United States Embassy. For years this had been the only line for Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem to communicate with the U.S administration. The U.S State Department reassured Palestinian leaders that the merger would not affect the the services open to the leaders, and will continue all services during and after the merge, while the “Palestinian Affairs Unit” will serve Palestine’s living in Jerusalem out of the consulate’s pervious Argon Road location. The move of activities now leaves Palestinians forced to work with the U.S Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, who supports illegal building of Israeli homes on Palestinian land, the consulate no longer working as an independent diplomatic mission. The decision was made in order to keep “diplomatic engagements and operations” running smoothly since no decisions or agreements have been made for Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, or the West Bank, according to the U.S Deputy State Department Spokesperson, Robert Palladino. Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Community Member, Hanan Ashrawi, considers this move as a “political assault on Palestinian rights and identity and a negation of the Consulate’s historic status and function”. The U.S is not the only country to move their embassies to Jerusalem, Guatemala and Australia has yet to but it close to finalizing a move. 

   The data in this article regarding what has been said by each side regarding the conflict of the U.S Embassy in Jerusalem is very reliable. All statements that are quoted by official members of the U.S administration are all factual takings of statements made by the individuals from conferences or press releases. Such quotes from U.S Deputy State Department Speaker Robert Palladino and decisions made by the Trump Administration have all be stated in fully covered press conferences over numerous news channels.  All of the organizations discussed such as the PLO and The Palestinian Affairs Unit and what they are doing and their feelings on the move of the embassy from Tel Aviv to be reliable and factual because it is information that has been covered far and wide by news media as well as the coverage of leaders and Trump administration speaking about the issues. 


   Throughout the article you can see that the point of view of the author, Ma’an News Agency, since the author is not listed, is from the perspective of the Palestinian people, but in an unbiased and professional way. A little background, Ma’an News Agency is a Palestinian media company with headquarters in Bethlehem and Gaza, serving as a reliable source for Palestinian and Israeli news since 2005. The article shows unbiased ideals through its use of neutral language as well as quoting sides that he/she may not agree with but want to paint the whole picture. Such comments like, “Palestinians have cut ties with Trump administration…” show the feeling of Palestinian background while also keeping the language respectable and neutral. Compared to other articles on similar topics, such as the BBC News article, US consulate general in Jerusalem merges with embassy, uses more harsher language compared to the Ma’an News Agency. For example, “ A Palestinian official called the move, “the last nail in the coffin of the US administrations role in peacemaking.” 

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=782745


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47442145