arabic

Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during in the West Bank city of Hebron, February 9, 2018. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

The price Mizrahim pay for serving in the Israeli army

Mizrahim are forced to carry out the dirty work of the occupation, coming face to face with their Palestinian subjects in the West Bank. It doesn’t have to be this way. It is hard to know for sure what kind of considerations are at the heart of the growing crisis between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…

By Orly Noy May 29, 2019

The Kadoori, Hamias, and Ashram families sit near an improvised Shabat dinner table set near their demolished houses in Givat Amal neighbourhood, Tel Aviv, Israel, September 19, 2014. Two days passed since the third eviction of families in the neighbourhood which left 20 residents homeless without proper compensation or alternative housing solution. By: Shiraz Grinbaum/Activestills.org

Israel’s Nation-State Law also discriminates against Mizrahi Jews

Mizrahi academics and activists demand Israel’s High Court strike down the Jewish Nation-State Law, saying it erases their cultural legacy and perpetuates injustices against both them and Palestinian citizens of Israel. Over 50 prominent Israeli Jews of Mizrahi origin filed a petition to the High Court of Justice on Tuesday demanding it strike down the Jewish Nation-State Law,…

By Orly Noy January 2, 2019

Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour was released from prison on September 20, 2018. She was arrested in October 2015, and later convicted of incitement to terrorism and violence for poems she published on social media. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour set free

Dareen Tatour, who was arrested and jailed for poems she published on social media, is released from prison. Tatour: ‘It will be impossible to stop my writing.’ By Oren Ziv Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour was released today after serving 42 days in prison. Her five-month sentence was reduced by 97 days, the same amount of…

By Oren Ziv September 20, 2018

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Immigrants from Iraq and Kurdistan exit their plane on arrival in Israel, having flown via Tehran, late spring 1951. (Teddy Brauner, GPO)

Iraqis want their Jewish neighbors back

Months after a Shiite cleric who won the parliamentary elections in Iraq said Jews “are welcome,” an online poll on the matter suggests that Iraqis are ready to discuss the right of return – more than Israelis are. By Meron Rapoport “Iraq’s Jews: 70 years after their expulsion, they seek to return to Iraq and become citizens…

By +972 Magazine August 30, 2018

Prime Minister Netanyahu and Sara Netanyahu (right) during a Mimouna celebration. (photo: Activestills.org)

What Israel can learn from Morocco’s multiculturalism

Since it gained independence in 1956, Morocco’s national identity has transformed from a homogenous Arab one to multicultural. Israel could stand to learn a lesson or two. By Einat Levi Two weeks ago, the Knesset passed the controversial Jewish Nation-State Law. Sixty-two members of Israel’s parliament voted in favor, 55 opposed, and two abstained. Several…

By +972 Magazine August 10, 2018

A giant portrait of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a protest against the Jewish Nation-State Law in Tel-Aviv on July 30, 2018. (Photo by Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Who needs a Nation-State Law? What Israelis really think

Several polls show that a surprising coalition of Israelis oppose the Jewish Nation-State Law, or at least think it is unnecessary and harmful. Those of us who are committed to equality of all citizens in Israel feel, once again, like specks drowning in a sea of chest-beating nationalists. The passage of the Jewish Nation-State Law…

By Dahlia Scheindlin August 3, 2018

Palestinian and Israeli peace activists march in central Jerusalem on October 17, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Why the Israeli Left can’t reconcile with the most Zionist law

For seven decades, those on the Zionist Left have been reluctant to grapple with Israel’s history of discrimination against its Palestinian minority. With the Jewish Nation-State Law, they have no choice — and that’s what really hurts. By Meron Rapoport It is difficult, if not impossible, to find Palestinians who support Israel’s new Jewish Nation-State Law.…

By +972 Magazine August 2, 2018

Maria Miguel De Pina, an Arabic teacher from Nazareth, gives a basic Arabic lesson to thousands of Israelis in Habima Square, Tel Aviv, July 30, 2018. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

‘World’s largest Arabic lesson’: A rebuke to the Jewish Nation-State law

Thousands of Israelis attend the event, billed as the world’s largest Arabic lesson, in protest of a new nationalist law that excludes Palestinian citizens of Israel from the national identity and demotes Arabic from its status as an official language. Thousands of Jewish and Palestinian Israelis took part in what was billed as the “biggest Arabic…

By Edo Konrad July 31, 2018

Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour seen in her home in the village of Reineh, northern Israel. (Oren Ziv)

Meet the poet whose words Israel considers terrorism

After being convicted of incitement to terrorism, and just before she is handed her sentence, Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour opens up in a personal interview about her Kafkaesque trial, the struggle of Palestinian citizens, and why she is a real poet, despite what her critics may claim. By Oren Ziv On Tuesday, July 31, at…

By Oren Ziv July 27, 2018

A Palestinian artist puts the final touches on a graffiti on a wall in Gaza City, May 8, 2010. The phrase is Arabic reads 'we will definitely come back.' (Wissam Nassar/Flash90)

How Arabic became a threat to ‘social cohesion’ in Israel

The absurd arrest of a Palestinian worker who was mistranslated by the police is a reminder that Arabic has been turned into a tool to oppress the native population in this country. Israelis read Sunday morning that Israeli police had mistakenly arrested a Palestinian worker after relying on a Facebook translation of a post he had…

By Orly Noy October 23, 2017

An old Arabic newspaper from Palestine in a lab for repairing and digitizing old books and scripts at the National Library in Jerusalem, December 30, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Israel’s nation-state bill threatens the mother tongue of Mizrahi Jews

The Israeli government’s attempts, via the nation-state bill, to erase the Arabic language from this country not only threatens Palestinians, it also undermines Mizrahi identity. But their attempt is doomed to fail. By Netta Amar-Shiff When my grandmother, Sa’ida, came to Israel, she worked at Kfar Hadasim Youth Village as a house mother, and needed to…

By +972 Magazine May 19, 2017

A pair of glasses resting on a worksheet used to teach Arabic to Israeli students, during an Arabic class at the Branco Weiss School. (Flash90)

Teaching our children Arabic should be elementary

A new study shows that Jewish Israeli teens who studied Arabic in elementary school have a better appreciation for Arab society later on. As the government continues its attacks on Arabic, it is imperative that teachers and parents fight to ensure children learn the language. By Gil Gertel The so-called nation-state bill, which passed its…

By +972 Magazine May 16, 2017

Israeli soldiers seen moments before attacking B'Tselem volunteer Ahmad Ziyada and his brother Mahmoud. (Screenshot)

WATCH: Israeli soldiers arrest Palestinian for filming them

Soldiers arrest a Palestinian man before shooting his brother in the knee with a rubber bullet. Israeli soldiers arrested a Palestinian volunteer with an Israeli human rights organization before shooting his brother in the knee with a rubber bullet earlier this month. The incident took place on February 10 in the West Bank village of…

By Edo Konrad February 20, 2017