O PINION
went to extracurricular activi-
ties together.

Th ere were Jewish residents
that could not contain their
anger and the feeling of deep
insult. Th ey called to boycott
the Arab villages and to cut off
ties with them. For some, the
boycott continues today.

But there were others who
chose a diff erent way. During
the riots, Kibbutz Eshbal was
hit again and again by Molotov
cocktails that caught fi re within
the kibbutz. Th e members,
together with firefighters,
managed to extinguish the fi res
and prevent a major disaster.

It was clear that the Molotov
cocktails were thrown by youth
from Sachnin, the neighboring
Arab village. So how did they
continue? Some members of Kibbutz
Eshbal decided not to let hate
win. When the winds calmed,
they went to Sachnin which
is adjacent to Eshbal. Th ey
went to all the businesses they
had supported throughout the
years ... and gave them fl owers.

“We wanted to say to them
that we are still friends. We
know not everyone partici-
pated in the riots and that most
of the people here want to live
in peace and quiet and friend-
ship,” they said.

So they went from one
business to the next, and they
were welcomed with excitement
and joy mixed with sadness.

The people of Sachnin
explained that the rioters were
“irresponsible teens” and that
they were “against everything
that happened.”
A week aft er the riots
ended, we returned to our
“regular” hummus place in
Sachnin and were welcomed
with joyful greetings of “Ahlan
and Sahlan.” Over the years,
we went almost every Friday
aft ernoon to the same restau-
rant. We were always greeted
with warmth, so we thought
we should make it clear to the
owners of the restaurant that
we knew they were not to blame
for what happened and that
we had to restore the feeling
of shared society that existed
before the events earlier that
month. Th e restaurant, which
usually would be packed with
lots of residents from Misgav
and soldiers that came home
for the weekend, was nearly
empty. It was so sad.

On the way back from
Sachnin to Karmiel we passed
by the Yuvalim intersection,
a main junction in Misgav.

Th ere were dozens of women
standing at the intersection.

Th ere was no mistaking that
there were both Jewish and
Arab women, some from
Misgav villages and Karmiel
and some from Arab villages in
the region. Th ey stood together
and gave fl owers to drivers
passing by the intersection and
held up signs calling for peace
and coexistence.

As an educator, I believe that
everything begins and ends
with education so, together
with principals from other
schools, I took part in diff erent
initiatives attempting to rectify
the situation. Countless initia-
tives were born under the title
“Jews and Arabs refused to be
enemies” — between educa-
tors, between students and
between communities. In my
school, this is the third year of
a program called “Connecting
Worlds.” Students from Jewish and
Arab schools belonging to
the ORT educational network
connect with one another —
one class from each school. Th e
students choose a topic to study
together. Th is year they chose
to study photography. Together
they meet and take classes on
photography and go on walks
together to take pictures.

Th rough joint learning, connec-
tions are made. Teens spend
time with one another and
discover to their surprise that
they are all human. Diff erent
but also so similar ...

Th e diffi cult events that
set Israel on fi re were hard on
everyone, but we all live in
the same space, and no one is
going anywhere. Each side has
hardships and diffi culties, and
all we can do is fi nd solutions
of mutual respect, love and
peace. ●
Idith Gal lives in Karmiel, Israel, and
is the Partnership2Gether co-chair.

Partnership2Gether is a program of
the Jewish Agency for Israel.

KVETCH ’N’ KVELL
Jews Targeted as Racism Victims
THE INITIATIVE OF THE Center for Jewish Ethics on race
and racism in American Jewish experiences (“RRC to Launch
Race, Racism Initiative,” Dec. 16) would be remiss if it does not
address the history of racial discrimination targeting Jews.

Although Judaism is not a race, Jews in the U.S. have long
been targets of racism. According to Yale Professor of African
American Studies Matthew F. Jacobson, early Americans
commonly viewed Jews as a separate racial category, and early
Jewish leaders themselves called Jews a race.

As late as the 1830s, several states prohibited or restricted
Jews from holding public offi ce. From the 20th century on, hate
literature spewed by white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups
have typically referred to Jews as a “Semitic race” in an attempt
to portray Jews as inferior to whites and as outsiders in America.

In our time, Jews are subject to racial discrimination. In 2018,
a U.S. magistrate ruled in favor of an applicant of Jewish descent,
who was denied a coaching position at Louisiana College, based
on Title VII which is designed to protect members of racial
groups from discrimination in employment. In 2019, President
Trump issued an executive order stating that antisemitism is
punishable under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act which deals
with discrimination based only on race, ethnicity and nation-
ality, not religion. Th e order says that Jews can be considered
to have been targeted for discrimination on the basis of their
nationality or race as Jews. ●
Jerry Stern | Merion Station
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