Israeli Arab Funding

Forward
October 20, 2006
By ROBERT ARNOW [LETTER TO THE EDITOR]

I was deeply disturbed by the front-page article, "Center-Right Groups Outraged at Post-War Money to Arabs" (Oct. 13) since I strongly support United Jewish Communities’ emergency assistance going to all Israelis affected by the recent war.

My personal and philanthropic involvement with Israel is long and deep. Like most Jews, I am proud that the State of Israel has been unambiguously committed since its founding to "full and equal rights" for its Arabs citizens, as stated in its Declaration of Independence, which is one reason why most Americans, both Christians and Jews, strongly support Israel. As Chaim Weizmann, Israel’s first president, put it in his autobiography, "I am certain that the world will judge the Jewish State by what it will do with the Arabs, just as the Jewish people at large will be judged by what we do or fail to do in this State where we have been given such a wonderful opportunity…"

The opposition to equitable aid ignores the fact that Katyusha rockets didn’t discriminate between Arabs and Jews; Hezbollah’s war was against all Israelis. As UJC President Howard Reiger was quoted as stating in the article, "about one-third to one-half of those killed [by Hezbollah rockets] were Israeli Arabs." In addition, many Druze and Bedouin citizens of Israel have helped defend Jews and the Jewish state by having served in the Israeli Defense Force, sometimes sacrificing their lives.

Unfortunately, for nearly 60 years, Israel’s Arab sector has been seriously neglected and under-funded, which has contributed to growing alienation from Israeli society among many Arab citizens.

For that reason, as The Jewish Week reported last spring, a group of mainstream Jewish organizations, led by the UJC and Joint Distribution Committee, has formed an interagency task force to examine ways to improve the lives of Israel’s Arab citizens, who receive a far smaller proportion of governmental aid than their Jewish neighbors. The Arab sector’s needs are legion: during the recent war, for example, many Arab villages in Israel’s north did not have bomb shelters, while almost all Jewish cities and towns did.

To help Arabs as well as Jews in Israel’s north is not only the fair, moral thing to do; it is also clearly in Israel’s national self-interest. As Moshe Arens, defense minister in three center-right governments, has stated, "It is high time for the government to address the problems of Israel’s Arab minority. This neglect can only lead to disaster if it is not stopped in time."

UJC has adopted a principled position, which I applaud. It should not allow others to undermine it by serving as a conduit for those who would discriminate against Israel’s minority of Arab citizens by making contributions marked "Jews only."

The writer, honorary chairman of The Jewish Week board of directors, is a former campaign chairman of UJA-Federation of New York and chairman emeritus of the board of governors of Ben Gurion University of the Negev.

Robert H. Arnow
New York, N.Y.