JNF for all
Sale of JNF land to Jews only is blatant discrimination that must be stopped
As a child attending kindergarten we would all sit in a circle on Friday mornings to welcome the Shabbat. First, we would declare an undisputable truth: "Today is Friday, tomorrow is the Shabbat." Next we would sing a short song about a character called the little donkey that also went to kindergarten and was hit on the back (Ay!)
Then the kindergarten teacher would reprimand us for not concentrating, for picking our noses and for pinching Dana instead of singing nicely. Those of us who were not Dana would stop pinching. Everyone (including Dana) stopped picking their noses. And with great concentration we would all sing of liberated Eretz Israel, an acre here and an acre there and clods of earth here and clods of earth there. Next we would dig into our pockets and pull out the coins we received from our mothers, and one after another drop them into the JNF box that proudly stood in every Jewish kindergarten in Israel.
Why have I reminisced on this scene? Because objectors to the petitions against the JNF's policy to sell land to Jews only said that it contradicts the donors' objectives. They wanted the lands of the JNF be given to Jews only. A fleeting moment of pride filled my heart. The donors, that's me, namely us, and there are important and respectable people who represent us and declare on our behalf that this cannot be. What an honor!
On the other hand, there appears to be some misunderstanding here: The donors don't in fact care. We actually think that the Land of Israel has already been liberated, and that now it should be treated in a proper manner. I know that at this very moment the angry hands of letter writers are running for their keyboards: Post-Zionism! Self-hatred! Selling the homeland to the enemy! The Left has lost its mind. Hey, slow down a minute. Allow me to tell you in the name of the donors that there is no connection between real estate passion and racism in skimpy camouflage, and patriotism.
One can be a loyal Zionist, while at the same time oppose the distorted methods by which Arab Israelis are discriminated against.
State is not a private club
The JNF was established in 1901. It was founded to ensure a foothold for the Jewish minority in the Land of Israel. Under such conditions - whereby Jews were discriminated against – this was the right thing to do. The fund legally purchased land at full cost, not by force or by raud. An acre here an acre there, a clod of earth here and a clod of earth there.
The thing is, much has changed since 1901: In 1948 the State of Israel was founded. The State made an effort to guarantee the rights of the Jews in the Land of Israel by every means at its disposal, including massive expropriation of land.
There is no longer discrimination against the Jews in Israel, but there is indeed discrimination against the Arabs - because those in power tend to forget their days of weakness. A normal country does not declare areas under its control as Arab-rein. What a small and discriminated against minority is allowed to do cannot be done by the majority.
Moreover, the JNF is not some small joint association in possession of 5,000 dunams. The JNF is a real-estate empire that possesses some 13 percent of national land. It functions as a fig leaf that enables the State to discriminate by means of a messenger. Had we encountered such policies towards the Jews we would have been outraged.
Jews, may I remind you, invested great effort in becoming accepted into private clubs from which they were barred. A state is not an anti-Semitic country club and not a private club. It abides by other rules.
This, by the way, also holds true with regards to land laws. Prior to the establishment of the State, there was rationale and justice in establishing armed underground organizations to protect the Jews and fight our enemies. Once the State was founded, there was no longer a need for them, whatever the intentions of donors to the Irgun and Lehi organizations. What should be done? Detours should not be sought and the discrimination should stop immediately.
