defying israel with the help of martin luther king
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Defying Israel with the help of Martin Luther King

Arab Today, arab today

defying israel with the help of martin luther king

Ray Hanania

This month, America will commemorate the anniversary of the birth of iconic civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who used non-violent protests to challenge racist and discriminatory practices by local and federal governments and agencies.
African American and the descendant of slaves in Georgia, King used civil disobedience to confront racist laws that treated blacks differently from whites, resulting in the adoption of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was introduced by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Johnson was merely following up on promises made by his predecessor, President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated only months after addressing the American people on his efforts to enforce civil rights for all.
America in the 1960s was not much different from today’s Israel, where racism and discrimination define the Jewish state’s policies, which recognize the superiority of Jews over non-Jews in the Holy Land.
It might be wise for the Palestinians to pause and reorganize themselves using King’s message as a foundation for their own struggle against growing apartheid practises by Israel’s government. King’s methods were based on principles evolved from the struggle of Mahatma Gandhi. 
The struggle that King led was not without violence from his foes, and he was assassinated by a white racist on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. King’s “civil disobedience” resulted in the rise of a new wave of racism in America and the election of people like George Wallace, who became governor of Alabama in 1963. 
Wallace fought to preserve laws that segregated whites and blacks, requiring the races to be given different public facilities and services, with whites receiving far better treatment than blacks — in much the same way that Israel provides Jews with more funds and services than they do to Palestinians living in Israel.
What did King do that Palestinians can do? A lot.
They can start by building civil rights coalitions inside Israel, coordinated with Palestinians living in the West Bank, where apartheid is used to distinguish government services and rights between Jews, who are favored, and non-Jews, who are discriminated against because of their race, religion and national origins.
And reaching out to the African American community would also be good because the racism against non-Jews by Israel extends to racism against other minorities, including blacks, Asians and others. Last week, for example, Israel’s government shockingly, openly announced that it would give each African refugee living inside Israel as much as $3,500 to leave the country. Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the Israeli version of Wallace, explained the outrageous offer as driven by the need to protect Israel’s “Jewish and democratic character.”
Of course, racism based on religion is no different than racism based on race. I call Israel’s discrimination “racist religionism.”
The analogy of Netanyahu’s offer strikes a strong chord among Americans, who are forced to finance Israel’s government apartheid and societal racism with more than $3.5 billion dollars of their taxes every year. 
This money could easily be spent bolstering areas of real need for American citizens. For example, the US spent $63 billion in 2015 on much-needed “Housing and Community” resources. With 321 million Americans, that’s only $196 each. The US funding for Israel’s 8.5 million citizens, meanwhile, amounts to an annual subsidy of $425 per Israeli. And if you eliminate the 2.2 million non-Jews from that, the actual subsidy for Jewish Israelis equates to $549 each.
Tax dollars taken from hard-working Americans are directly used to support Israel’s racist societal values, which are falsely cloaked as being “democratic.” This means that Israel’s violations of civil rights directly reflect on the American people, because the funding spent on Israel represents nearly one-fifth of all of America’s aid to foreign countries.
Americans have not shown a strong sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians, mainly because of the poor performance of Arab activists and groups in the US. But Americans will when they understand who is paying for Israel’s racism; a system that defies the fundamental principles of America’s commitment to civil rights.
Palestinians can embrace King’s message and make it their own, and many Americans would identify with that. In fact, to mark his birthday on Jan. 15, Palestinians should close down their stores inside Israel as a form of civil disobedience and declare it as a commemoration to King’s principles in the face of the daily discrimination they face.
Israel’s government continues to motor towards worse forms of racist discrimination. This week, they also announced they would ban members of 20 civil rights organizations from entering their embattled “Jewish state.” Many of those banned are Jews.
Palestinians need to dramatically shift their activism away from their routine protests, which have proven to fail, and embrace new strategies through civil disobedience that reinforce a commitment to peace, compromise and non-violence.
They will find much support from progressive Jewish and Israeli organizations such as B’Tselem, Jewish Voice for Peace, the New Israel Fund, Rabbis for Human Rights, Gush Shalom, Seeds of Peace, and J Street, to name just a few. We should be talking with Israelis who support justice, like courageous civil rights writers such as Bradley Burston and Gideon Levy and many of the Israeli groups above, not supporting a blanket and self-destructive BDS boycott of all of Israel.
On Jan. 15, Palestinians should abandon their failed strategies and embrace a new, more principled stand. Suspend all their business and honor King, redefining themselves with a protest process that can be more successful in standing up to Israeli racism. Mark one time that day for a Palestinian and Arab world moment of silence in King’s name and make his successful efforts ours too.

 

GMT 18:35 2018 Friday ,14 December

Can Armenia break the ice with Turkey?

GMT 21:25 2018 Thursday ,13 December

PM limps on with UK still in Brexit gridlock

GMT 21:21 2018 Thursday ,13 December

US begins crackdown on Iran sanctions violations

GMT 14:33 2018 Wednesday ,12 December

Political turbulence likely to continue unabated in 2019

GMT 14:26 2018 Wednesday ,12 December

Canada standing on the wrong side of history

GMT 13:27 2018 Tuesday ,11 December

France and the crisis of democracy

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

defying israel with the help of martin luther king defying israel with the help of martin luther king

 



GMT 04:22 2017 Tuesday ,26 December

Israel in touch with '10 countries' over embassy moves

GMT 19:43 2017 Friday ,06 October

Employee safety top priority at Khalifa Port

GMT 16:19 2017 Friday ,28 April

ISIS Suspect Arrested in Western Germany

GMT 12:57 2017 Monday ,11 December

50 Students Poisoned by Contaminated Well Water

GMT 16:31 2017 Thursday ,10 August

Palestinians will discuss decline of aids

GMT 21:15 2017 Saturday ,04 March

Obama never ordered surveillance on any US citizen

GMT 10:00 2017 Thursday ,09 March

Russia ‘can be good friends with GCC’

GMT 02:13 2017 Wednesday ,22 February

Russian helicopter crash kills 19 in Siberia

GMT 13:23 2017 Tuesday ,05 December

Lebanon PM Hariri rescinds resignation

GMT 00:39 2017 Tuesday ,05 December

Gunmen kill cleric in Aden, southern Yemen

GMT 11:43 2016 Thursday ,24 November

Will learn from Euro exit

GMT 06:56 2017 Tuesday ,17 October

US ‘not taking sides’ between Iraqi forces, Kurds

GMT 19:59 2017 Thursday ,16 February

Syrian opposition's chief negotiator arrives in Astana

GMT 15:41 2017 Thursday ,29 June

US sets new visa rules for 6 mainly Muslim nations

GMT 19:31 2017 Saturday ,11 February

Earthquake Hits Taiwan

GMT 15:30 2017 Monday ,27 November

Syrian government will not join peace talks on Monday

GMT 16:20 2017 Tuesday ,31 October

La Rochelle survive red card to down Toulouse

GMT 20:33 2018 Tuesday ,16 January

Bahraini official receives UAE Ambassador

GMT 22:40 2018 Monday ,08 January

Bahrain to host first Baby Games
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday