Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index The neutrality of this article is disputed. Compare to Arabs and anti-Semitism. Some Israelis hold bigoted views about Palestinian Arabs. Many view this as an indication of the hostile intentions of Israel, and something that must be taken into account when analyzing the Arab-Israeli conflict. Some Israelis work to fight racism against Arabs and Muslims, and also to fight Muslim anti-Semitism. Table of contents 1 Anti-Palestinian bigotry 1.1 Statements by an Israeli Military Leader 2 Projects that fight bigotry 2.2 External links Anti-Palestinian bigotry A handful of extremist Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israeli rabbis have described Palestinians as subhuman. None of these people have a role in the major Jewish denominations. Each of the statements below has been condemned by rabbis and spokespeople from mainstream Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism, and from the (largely non-religious) Israeli press. "One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail." -- Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, Feb. 27, 1994 [Source: New York Times, Feb. 28, 1994, p. 1] "It is forbidden to be merciful to them, you must give them missiles, with relish — annihilate them. Evil ones, damnable ones," Rabbi Ovadia Yosef about the Palestinian people [Source: The Times, UK - 4/10/01] Yosef is the founder and spiritual leader of the Israeli religious party Shas and is regarded as one of the great rabbis of this generation by much of the Sephardic ultra-orthodox community in Israel. However, Modern Orthodox Jews, non-Orthodox Jews, and secular Jews generally view him as a fanatic; his views are routinely rejected by those outside his community. Some Israeli politicians have made critical and rude statements about Palestinians that Palestinians consider to be very offensive. "There is a huge gap between us (Jews) and our enemies not just in ability but in morality, culture, sanctity of life, and conscience." -- Israeli president Moshe Katsav. Jerusalem Post, May 10, 2001 "Maybe the Palestinians are like crocodiles - the more you give them, the more they want" -- Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel at the time - August 28, 2000. Reported in the Jerusalem Post, August 30, 2000 [1] "[The Palestinians are] beasts walking on two legs." -- Menahim Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, "Begin and the Beasts". New Statesman, 25 June 1982. "We say to [Arab rioters] from the heights of this mountain and from the perspective of thousands of years of history that they are like grasshoppers compared to us"; "Anybody who wants to damage this fortress and other fortresses we are establishing will have his head smashed against the boulders and walls." -- Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir in a speech to Jewish settlers. New York Times, April 1, 1988 "There was no such thing as Palestinians, they never existed." Golda Meir Israeli Prime Minister June 15, 1969 Statements by an Israeli Military Leader "When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle." -- Rafael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces, New York Times, 14 April 1983. "We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimeter of Eretz Yisrael ... Force is all they do or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours." -- Rafael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces - Gad Becker, Yediot Aharonot, 13 April 1983, New York Times 14 April 1983. Projects that fight bigotry There are many projects that work to create a peaceful and productive co-existence between Israelis and Arabs. These projects include: Neve Shalom Humanitarian Aid Project The Hamidrasha Jewish-Arab Beit Midrash The Ir Shalem co-existence program Seeds of Peace Givat Haviva's Jewish-Arab Center for Peace OneVoice, a project of the Peaceworks Foundation These projects are discussed in the article on Projects working for peace among Israelis and Arabs. See also: Anti-Arab, Arabs and anti-Semitism, Anti-Semitism, Religious pluralism, Peace process External links American Jewish Congress Seeking to advance Jewish-Muslim relations PBS interview with Feisal Abdul Rauf A Call to bridge the Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, by Feisal Abdul Rauf Khalid Abou El Fadl condemns terrorist attacks as not being true Jihad, and calles them Hirabah, terrorism This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.