Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman has been widely described in the western media as a racist or an ultra-right-wing politician, while at the same time Mr Lieberman's actual political positions are much more moderate than the average "moderate" Arab politicians'. Given that Lieberman's positions would be considered "modertate" if he were an Arab but "ultra-right-wing" or even "racist" when he is a Jew, I am wondering whether those who call him a racist truly understand what racism is.

"If you were an Arab, you'd be a moderate. Since you are a Jew, you are a racist" simply means "Arabs and Jews are different and it doesn't matter what they actually believe or do".

One of the "racist" proposals of Lieberman's is that only those Israelis who have completed military or national service should be allowed to become Israeli diplomats. The proposal says nothing about Jews and Arabs and treats all Israelis as one people. Yet it is considered anti-Arab because Arabs in Israel have the PRIVILEGE not to have to serve in the military or in hospitals and hence, in the spirit of universal brotherhood, many don't.

(Those same Israeli Arabs do not usually refrain from accepting social welfare from the state other people defend and from making use of the hospitals other people staff.)

In fact Lieberman's proposal is directed against the Haredim, to so-called "ultra-orthodox" Jews who are also exempt from military and national service because they are classified as "religious scholars" under a law that originally exempted 400 scholars a year from national service.

The military and national service have in fact been a way for members of minorities in Israel to gain a social status rarely affored to members of minorities in other countries in the middle east. Especially Israels' Druze and Bedouin, each less than 2% of the population, often (or usually) work their way up to the military. Today 5% of the members of parliament in Israel are Druze and the IDF's best are Bedouin and Druze soldiers.

A state for its entire people, if only the entire people would contribute...

"I identify with what the minister said and support what he is suggesting," said Hassan Ka'bia, Israel's Consul General to Alexandria, who sought to voice his support for his boss publicly.
 
Ka'bia, a Bedouin who served many years in the IDF and was released with the rank of lieutenant colonel, rejects claims that Lieberman is trying to block minorities' access to the Foreign Ministry.
 
According to him, "For many years already, the Arab sector has ganged up against national service. There were demonstrations against national service. I say, these are people who are supposed to be partners with the State. They need to do national service at the very least: to work in the village, in hospitals, somewhere. I don't know who there will be partnership and how they want to be accepted into the civil service if they don't contribute to the society."
 
Ka'bia also said that he does not expect those who do not want to serve in the military to enlist. However, in his opinion, every Israeli citizen has an obligation to contribute to the community.
 
"National service is for the most part service to the community," said the consul general. "There are a thousand options for taking action. I am not coming to recruit them into the military. If they don't want, they don't have to. But they must contribute in order to be accepted into Israeli society," Ka'bia explained.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3768196,00.html

(I wonder what the western left think about Hassan Ka'bia's views of solidarity and contributing to society? It is "racist" for a Bedouin to want to contribute to his country? Is it racist for the Jews of Israel to promose such community spirit?)

In Israel Jews, Druze, and Circassians are drafted into the military (or national service), while Arabs and Armenians are not (but this is not what "critics" mean when they call Israel an "apartheid state", despite the fact that that is the only law that grants different privileges according to ethnicity). Among the Arabs Bedouins often volunteer for service. One of Israel's top three war heroes was a Bedouin from nothern Israel (the other two were a Jew from around Jerusalem and a Jew from Iraq).

Ironically, even Hamas leader Ismael Haniye's nephews served in the IDF. Haniye's sisters had married Israeli Bedouins. And I doubt they are happy with Haniye's dream of destroying their country.