He is the Mayor of Nazareth ,not just one part but all of Nazareth be it Nazareth lIIit or the Arab Nazareth, if he cannot be for all of Nazareth, then he should step down because he truly is being racist.

Discrimination by any other name is an unacceptable evil that no civilized society can tolerate. Restrictive regulations must be dropped and fair housing laws must be enforced. There are no alternative arguments to be made. The author of this piece seems to prides herself on not being a hypocrite. She isn't but neither were the white bigots in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

It sounds like Racism, It looks like Racism, It smells like Racism. BUT it's not Racism ?

He's the mayor of Nazareth Illit only, not all of Nazareth. Just pointing it out.

Message to all Proud Jews of Nazareth Elite: Re-elect Gapso by landslide!

And Balad MK Haneen Zooabi wants to replace him.

It is 100% Arab.

A Chief Rabbi for sepharadim A Cheif Rabbi for Ashkenazim A synagogue for Sepharadim A synagogue for Ashkenazim A kindergarten for Haredi kids only A kindergarten with no Ethiopians A town for Haredim only A school for Haredim only A town without Arabs A religious school for Ashkenazim only A bus without women A sidewalk for men only A political party for Sepharadim only Birmingham, Montgomery and Little Rock were far less complex, it was really very simple, just black and white and it was sorted out relatively quickly, strong will and decisive action. In Israel it will take generations simply because instead of aiming at integration and unity the whole system is conducive to segregation.

right....well....ehm....ofcourse it's racism....

Dear Smadar, It's called "The Law of Unintended Consequences". When not one single new Arab town has been built since 1948, and when Israeli Arabs have no where to build because they are not given land to build on, they will naturally move to areas where there is new building going on such as: Nazareth Illit, Akko, Karmiel etc. Smadar, maybe you have forgotten, but they also want to marry and have children. And maybe they just don't want to live with their parents. Racism is so deeply embedded in Israeli society that when a mayor speaks about this kind of problem, the answer needs to be found in those national policies adapted by all Israeli govts. since 1948.

Israel needs a few Internationals like in soccer in the form of cities international cities .But Where.Nazareth birth place of Jesus of Nazareth the who did many good deeds even according to the Talmud but made mistakes and ought to have been exiled to Nivneh like but on a safe Boat better than Jonahs to preach The Interpratation There is the Better of all places . So this mayor exacerbates the Viscious cycle a anti-Humanist anti G-D.

Racism has been tolerated in every civilized society. Including yours.

And Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

When you have a 5th column electing representatives who are ant-Israel, and want to kill you, obviously you don't want them living next to you.

#4 #6 #9 Thank you I stand corrected. That said we have and live in a democratic society and there in lies the problem, you can't have it both ways. There is no room for a democratic free society to use racist solgans to gain a few more votes.

good for him! May he continue and be strong!

How many Jews live in Tayibe? How many Jews live in Umm al Fahm? How many Jews live in any number of hundreds of Arab villages? Israeli Jews prefer our towns, villages and cities to have parks and museums. Libraries. Good schools. Good luck finding any of the foregoing in any Arab villages or towns. Jews do not want hookah smoking cafes. Jews do not want belly dancing clubs. Jews do not want anything the Arabs have to offer -- which isn't much, by the way. Nazareth Illit is a beautiful town, built on a hill, with good schools. Please forgive the mayor if he doesn't want Arabs to trash it -- as they have trashed Jaffa, significant parts of Haifa, large portions of Akko and even parts of Tel Aviv. I would not move to the South Bronx. I don't want the South Bronx to move to my part of the Upper West Side. Why would any good citizen of Nazareth Illit feel differently? And if they do -- they are free to move to Arab Nazareth. Aren't they? Well, no, they are not, but that's a topic for another day. Israel is the Jewish State. The only one in the entire world. There is nothing wrong with preserving and protecting that singular identity. Anyone who feels differently is free to relocate to any one of twenty-three Arab nations. If they want to be Arab, that is precisely what they should do. Israel is a JEWISH state, and anyone who doesn't like it is free to leave.

It was just acknowledging the idea of Sagi at 8. Israeli society doesn't exist as long as the government keep this separationist ethnocentric education. Sagi is right. Israel is just a big getto made of smaller ghettoes. This is the source of racism and hatred in Israel Sad indeed

upid? Visit Jisr A Zarka, Kfar Kassem, Taibeh and Tirah. There is endless building for Arabs only. The reason for a housing shortage in the Arab sector is not shortage of land. It is because while Jews are forced to live 80 families on a dunam in 20 story buildings , Arabs live one family on a dunam.

And why are you trashtalking Israel, when it is Jewish Nazereth-Illit that took in Arabs so that 20% of its population is Arab, WHILE NOT A SINGLE JEW LIVES IN ARAB NAZERETH? Seriously, if you hold that much of a grudge, you should consider going back to wherever you came from.

There are in fact a number of Arab towns that have been set up by the Israeli government since 1948, though they are in the Negev not the Galilee. Once of the them, Rahat, is a city of almost 60,000 people.

And therefore I have the right as much as anyone who lives here to criticism. Israel is not a totalitarian regime.... Yet! And I won't shut up or move out because some ignorant racist guy like you

Segregation here, segregation there, segregation everywhere. And upper West side huh? You must be very lonely in one of the most liberal congressional districts in America, and a relatively integrated one at that. What percentage of your neighbors voted for Obama? Are GLBT? Black and latino? My suggestion is you consider moving to Texas and asking for political asylum.

She has no problem with nationalism and ethnically homogenous nations - she only has a problem with Jewish nationalism. There are hundreds of millions of people living in nation states or ethnicity based nation states across Europe, Russia, Central Asia, Middle East, Africa and Asia. Elsie obviously has no problem with those countries insisting on limiting immigration of foreigners and minorities, and preserving the host nation's unique ethnic and cultural character. Arabs may have 22 Arab states, 1.5 times larger than United States of America - 22 Arab states that are mainly "Judenrein", but God forbid that Jews constitute the majority population in a tiny Jewish nation state half the size of Denmark, located in the ancestral, ancient, historical and original homeland of Israel. If Arabs can't demographically dominate every square inch in Israel, Jews are deemed to be "racist". When Arabs ban Jews - ALL Jews from their lands - Elsie is quiet. But she is not anti-Semitic - of course not. Unless the Jews are thrown into the sea by the Arabs, unless Israel is turned into a Jewish-Arab bi-national state, unless Israel is turned into an Arab majority Arab state, or unless Israel is transformed into an African-Russian-Arab-Asian-German-Polish-Aztek Indian Marxist Anarchist Buddhist society with no national identity whatsoever and with no Jewish trace whatsoever, she is going to cry her heart out that the mere existence of a Jewish nation state with a Jewish majority population is "racist". Since she routinely atacks Israel's ethnic character I'd suggest that she keeps her mouth shut. Elsie lecturing on morality, ethics, tolerance and democracy is like Hitler lecturing Western nations on democracy and human rights. Nationalism and preserving one's national identity and demographic majority is an accepted fact all over the world. It is "racist" only when applied to the Jewish nationalism - if you ask Elsie. Whenever a conflict arises between Jews and Arabs or between Jews and Bedouins, she always sympathizes with the other side - she never admits that Jews are the masters and owners of Israel and that non Jews have to humbly and obediently adapt themselves to a Jewish nation state - just the way Jews and other minorities do in other nation states. Jews are no foreigners in Israel - Elsie is a foreigner and so are all non Jews living in our country. In the same manner, Jews are a minority in European countries, and street names, official language and religion, the political system, the holidays, the national flags and anthems and local customs will not change just to make Jews and other minorities to "feel at home". Apparently she has no problem with the following nation states preserving their ethnic, cultural and national identity: China, Mongolia,both Koreas, Japan, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbajdzan, Armenia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Netherlands, and Ireland. Elsie's problem is not with ethnicity based nationalism that hundreds of millions of people across the world DAILY adher to. Her problem is that the Jewish people can survive by virtue of being a majority population in a Jewish nation state.

1) Where are you from? 2) Why are you in Israel? 3) Your life is in Israel - because of what? What do you do? If Israel decides to expel you due to your anti-Semitic views, Israel certainly will. It is you who is a racist - you side with the Arabs against the Jews, you deny that Jerusalem and the Temple Mount belong exclusively to the Jewish people and you deny Israel's right to exist as a Jewish nation state and you deny the Jewish people's historical rights to Israel and historical roots in Israel - while you take all other nationalisms around the world for granted. That makes you a hypocrite and a racist. More specifically: an anti-Semite. You have a right to speak - not to hate Israel or to undermine Israel as a Jewish nation state. You have the right to speak - so does your most gracious Jewish host country that has accepted you and given you democratic rights. Democracy applies to everbody - also to the Jewish people in their own country. Or do you deny the Jews to speak their mind in their own country? Freedom of speech and criticism go both ways. Remember: the Jews are your hosts and they own the land. If you don't accept this, you don't belong in Israel. Israel is a Jewish country based on Jewish nationalism -you have to accept that. You are the foreigner. Don't provoke them, because you may have to leave the country. How do you Think the South Koreans would react if you'd tell them that you are an immigrant in South Korea, you side with North Korea, you side with Japan during WW2 and you don't understand why South Korea needs to be a Korean society? I don't think they would like you very much.

If you don't like living in a Jewish country, nobody is forcing you to stay. We Jews are not going anywhere - we have no other homeland. We have lived here for thousands of years and we are never going to leave Israel or to give it up - not for "tolerance", "coexistence", multi-culti, "democracy", global blackmail and international pressure or any other reason. Nazi secular military juntas, theocracies, dictatorships or terrorists will not deter us and so called supporters of coexistence and tolerance will not force Jews to turn Israel into a non Jewish society. You can scream "democracy" as much as you wish. Democracy is meant to protect individual and national rights - not to destroy an entire nation with multi-culturalism. To legitimize one nation conquering another nation in the name of "democracy" and "tolerance" is extremely dishonest. We Jews are not leaving Israel and Israel will never become "everyone's homeland". Forget it - it's never going to happen. Our Jewish forefathers survived for 2000 years in exile so that the Dream of a reestablished Jewish state would become true. Have we Jews returned to Israel only to turn Israel into "everybody's land" because Non Jewish immigrant and Elsie Think so? Israel is a Jewish country for the Jewish people and only Jews have national rights here in Israel. Non Jews can stay if they are a minority group living in our country loyal to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and if they side with Israel against her enemies and respect the Jewish identity of the state. With rights come obligations - that's the way it is in all democracies. Don't expect 6 million Israeli Jews to love you when you always side with the Arabs and speak in a very hostile manner regarding the Jewish identity of Israel.

You have put forward your argument in a very clear manner. My only problem is that I do not accept some of your basic assumptions. Ethnic nationalism is a historical construction, not a natural phenomenon. The notion of 'Italian', for example, is fairly modern. Before the 19th century 'Sicilian', 'Neapolitan', 'Venetian' were the significant 'ethnic' identities - and often still are! I know Israeli Arab citizens who see Israel as their home, who are completely bilingual. At the same time, there are Jewish citizens of many countries who see those places also as their home. Like Marx, I am sure you view such Jews as suffering from false consciousness. After all, they should have an ethnic nationalist identity, they should all be Zionists! Well, Alexander, that is not how the world works. I suggest you read more history.