The secret of the Israeli mosaic

The secret of the Israeli mosaic By Alexander Yakobson Fadela Amara, the French minister for urban affairs, was asked by Haaretz Magazine in an interview, "What did you think of Israel?" Amara, the daughter of Berber immigrants from Algeria and a well-known advocate of women's and Muslim immigrants' rights who has come out against radical Islam, said: "I felt very comfortable [in Israel]. I wasn't the object of special stares, as often happens toward foreigners. I didn't feel any racism, though I'm certain it exists. You have all the colors there so it's become almost natural to see white, yellow, brown. ... Here in France, I get looks. To the French, I'm not very 'French.' We're living here under a dominant culture. When your name is Francois and you're white with blue eyes, it's one thing. But when your name is Fatima and you've got a little color, the look you get is different. In Israel, because of the variety of people, I didn't feel that." Of course, there has to be a "but" after such a flattering description of Israeli society. There's always a "but" - especially when it comes to a society immersed in a serious national conflict. But the guest from France grasped something fundamental about Israeli society and the Zionist enterprise: the astounding ethnic diversity involved in the concept of the Jewish state. In a certain sense, Jewish nationality in Israel is indeed ethnic, as people tend to say (in a reproachful tone): It is not identical to Israeli citizenship. In a country with two peoples, as the Jews and Arabs see themselves, the national identity of each is necessarily ethnic in that it represents only part of the country's residents (in contrast to what is accepted in France). But there is a fairly significant paradox involved in defining the Jewish people as an ethnic group. The Zionist view of a people that includes all Jewish communities around the world (an outlook that merits trendy opposition from the left) is certainly one of the most multiethnic and multicultural national attitudes in history. When you see the Jews of Poland and the Jews of Yemen, the Jews of Germany and the Jews of Morocco as members of one people, and establish a country based on this national view, that is essentially a multiethnic and multicultural enterprise, whether or not the participants think in those terms. Advertisement Theodor Herzl was well aware of this aspect of the national enterprise he initiated, as seen when he declined to call the Jews a race and defined them instead as a nation - a historic unit comprised, as is the way of nations, of various ethnic blocks. The ethno-cultural differences between the various groups that came together to form Jewish Israeli society were quite large. But these groups shared the belief that they belonged to the same people, whether they subscribed to the modern Zionist version of this outlook, the traditional Jewish one or some combination thereof. They therefore had a shared cultural basis and consciousness - a recipe for successful multiculturalism, even if the feeling of belonging to one people does not preclude arrogance or prejudice. This feeling of belonging is the primary reason that the State of Israel is the most successful example of integration between people from Europe and the Muslim Middle East - in an approximately 50-50 ratio - in all of modern history. From a Zionist perspective, this success should not be surprising; after all, this is not about the integration of immigrants from 70 countries, but the absorption of newcomers from 70 diasporas who were members of the same people from the beginning. Those who reject this ideological approach or at least refuse to accept it as self-evident, those who categorize Jews' arrival to Israel as immigration rather than as aliyah, should be even more impressed by the Israeli enterprise's success at building a nation, despite all its well-known difficulties. No matter what ideological definitions are used, the extent of integration of those from Europe and the Middle East is an extremely notable achievement in our world. During her visit to Israel, Fadela Amara sensed the fruit of this accomplishment - a society where people take ethnic differences for granted more so than in many societies that take pride in their openness and acceptance of the other. One may presume that many of the people she saw here are not of Jewish origin, but have either close or distant relatives who are Jewish, and moved to Israel and became citizens in accordance with the Law of Return - and became part of Hebrew-speaking Jewish Israeli society. They, too, are today part of the Israeli mosaic that so impressed the visitor from France. The fact that Israeli eyes are used to seeing different colors and faces and Israeli ears are used to hearing different accents benefits them as well. If Amara consulted with experts on nationalism, they no doubt told her that one may join the Jewish people only through religious ritual. Israeli reality, however, tells a different story.

<p> The secret of the Israeli mosaic </p> <p>By Alexander Yakobson </p> <p>Fadela Amara, the French minister for urban affairs, was asked by Haaretz Magazine in an interview, "What did you think of Israel?" Amara, the daughter of Berber immigrants from Algeria and a well-known advocate of women's and Muslim immigrants' rights who has come out against radical Islam, said: "I felt very comfortable [in Israel]. I wasn't the object of special stares, as often happens toward foreigners. I didn't feel any racism, though I'm certain it exists. You have all the colors there so it's become almost natural to see white, yellow, brown. ... Here in France, I get looks. To the French, I'm not very 'French.' We're living here under a dominant culture. When your name is Francois and you're white with blue eyes, it's one thing. But when your name is Fatima and you've got a little color, the look you get is different. In Israel, because of the variety of people, I didn't feel that." </p> <p>Of course, there has to be a "but" after such a flattering description of Israeli society. There's always a "but" - especially when it comes to a society immersed in a serious national conflict. But the guest from France grasped something fundamental about Israeli society and the Zionist enterprise: the astounding ethnic diversity involved in the concept of the Jewish state. In a certain sense, Jewish nationality in Israel is indeed ethnic, as people tend to say (in a reproachful tone): It is not identical to Israeli citizenship. In a country with two peoples, as the Jews and Arabs see themselves, the national identity of each is necessarily ethnic in that it represents only part of the country's residents (in contrast to what is accepted in France). </p> <p>But there is a fairly significant paradox involved in defining the Jewish people as an ethnic group. The Zionist view of a people that includes all Jewish communities around the world (an outlook that merits trendy opposition from the left) is certainly one of the most multiethnic and multicultural national attitudes in history. When you see the Jews of Poland and the Jews of Yemen, the Jews of Germany and the Jews of Morocco as members of one people, and establish a country based on this national view, that is essentially a multiethnic and multicultural enterprise, whether or not the participants think in those terms.<br /> Advertisement </p> <p>Theodor Herzl was well aware of this aspect of the national enterprise he initiated, as seen when he declined to call the Jews a race and defined them instead as a nation - a historic unit comprised, as is the way of nations, of various ethnic blocks. The ethno-cultural differences between the various groups that came together to form Jewish Israeli society were quite large. But these groups shared the belief that they belonged to the same people, whether they subscribed to the modern Zionist version of this outlook, the traditional Jewish one or some combination thereof. They therefore had a shared cultural basis and consciousness - a recipe for successful multiculturalism, even if the feeling of belonging to one people does not preclude arrogance or prejudice. </p> <p>This feeling of belonging is the primary reason that the State of Israel is the most successful example of integration between people from Europe and the Muslim Middle East - in an approximately 50-50 ratio - in all of modern history. From a Zionist perspective, this success should not be surprising; after all, this is not about the integration of immigrants from 70 countries, but the absorption of newcomers from 70 diasporas who were members of the same people from the beginning. </p> <p>Those who reject this ideological approach or at least refuse to accept it as self-evident, those who categorize Jews' arrival to Israel as immigration rather than as aliyah, should be even more impressed by the Israeli enterprise's success at building a nation, despite all its well-known difficulties. No matter what ideological definitions are used, the extent of integration of those from Europe and the Middle East is an extremely notable achievement in our world. </p> <p>During her visit to Israel, Fadela Amara sensed the fruit of this accomplishment - a society where people take ethnic differences for granted more so than in many societies that take pride in their openness and acceptance of the other. One may presume that many of the people she saw here are not of Jewish origin, but have either close or distant relatives who are Jewish, and moved to Israel and became citizens in accordance with the Law of Return - and became part of Hebrew-speaking Jewish Israeli society. They, too, are today part of the Israeli mosaic that so impressed the visitor from France. The fact that Israeli eyes are used to seeing different colors and faces and Israeli ears are used to hearing different accents benefits them as well. If Amara consulted with experts on nationalism, they no doubt told her that one may join the Jewish people only through religious ritual. Israeli reality, however, tells a different story.</p>