Israeli Minister Openly Advocates for Apartheid

Israel, inside the green-line anyway, is not be an aparthied state, though there is a lot of descrimination against non-Jews. And most (though not all) of this is de-facto descrimination not mandated by law, just manipulated to be that way by biased / racist officials and citizens.

But that would change if Israel's Minister of Housing had his way. Haaretz quotes Minister Ariel Atias of the Shas party as saying - in a speech to the Israel Bar Association no less - that:

"If we go on like we have until now, we will lose the Galilee. Populations that should not mix are spreading there. I don't think that it is appropriate [for them] to live together. Look at what happened in Acre,"

Atias was apparently referring to violent protests that broke out on the Eve of Yom Kippur last year over Jewish-Arab tensions in the mixed town. He continued:

"The mayor of Acre visited me yesterday for three hours and asked me how his town could be saved. He told me 'bring a bunch of Haredis and we'll save the city, even if I lose my political standing. He told me that Arabs are living in Jewish buildings [sic!] and running them out."

The article goes on to say:

Atias argued that lands should be marketed to each sector separately, in
order to create segregation, not just between Jews and Arabs but also
between other sectors, such as ultra-Orthodox and secular Jews.

And though the government will never be so stupid as to make Atias' suggestion into a law, (thats what the JNF is for) I have no doubt that, for the immediate future at least, the defacto policy of the Israel Lands Authority will be implemented as he Minister Atias has oulined - since his people now control the ILA.

This should give the Israel Apartheid Week folks tons of new ammunition.

Read the full story here.

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By the way, while looking for pictures of Minister Ariel Atias to go with this article (that's him at the top - nice hat!) I came across MANY pictures of Israeli actress Moran Atias (at the right). I wonder if they are related ?