Editor,
This is in response to Josh Hasten's letter in Wednesday's Daily Lobo.
Since Judaism is generally passed on through the mother, let's consider Judaism, for the most part, to be a biological trait, which people have no control over, similar to race.
First of all, any Jew can claim Israeli citizenship, but people who've lived there for dozens of generations cannot.
Also, Hasten mentioned there are 12 Arabs in Parliament. Why are there only 12?
Because there is a limit on how many Muslims and Christians can be in Parliament, even though they make up a large percentage of the population.
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Imagine if the U.S. had limits on how many African-Americans, Asian-Americans or Hispanics can be in Congress. Would that not be racist?
Also, Christians and Muslims in Palestine are not allowed to marry Christians and Muslims in Israel. Through various laws, non-Jews are discouraged from reproducing.
Hasten argues that Christians and Muslims have similar rights to Jews. However, he does not mention that there is systematic discrimination when it comes to funding for education and health care.
Nor does he mention the segregation. Another part of the systematic discrimination in Israel is that Jews live in illegal settlements on what's left of occupied Palestine, whereas non-Jews do not.
Many of these settlements are built where Palestinian homes and groves once stood. If Muslims or Christians were to leave their home, they could risk having their land confiscated, regardless of whether it's in Israel or Palestine.
In the U.S., such discriminatory actions were called Jim Crow laws. Hopefully Israel can get rid of its discriminatory laws and countless human rights violations.
As Americans, it is shameful for those students to be celebrating the discrimination and human rights violations that countless brave civil rights advocates fought so hard to remove in the U.S.
Ahmad Musleh
UNM student
