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Khaldi initiated a project called "Hike and Learn with Bedouins in the Galilee" that has brought thousands of young Jews to the village of [[Khawalid]] to learn about Bedouin culture and history. He said these encounters inspired him to become a diplomat.<ref name="SFGate"/> |
Khaldi initiated a project called "Hike and Learn with Bedouins in the Galilee" that has brought thousands of young Jews to the village of [[Khawalid]] to learn about Bedouin culture and history. He said these encounters inspired him to become a diplomat.<ref name="SFGate"/> |
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== Edinburgh University Incident == |
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On 2 February 2011, Mr. Khaldi began to give a talk hosted by the [[University of Edinburgh]]'s Jewish Society<ref>http://thejc.com/bedouin-arabs/44724/anti-israel-protesters-clash-israels-top-muslim-politician</ref>. |
On 2 February 2011, Mr. Khaldi began to give a talk hosted by the [[University of Edinburgh]]'s Jewish Society<ref>http://thejc.com/bedouin-arabs/44724/anti-israel-protesters-clash-israels-top-muslim-politician</ref>. As the audience was overwhelmingly made up of members of [[Students for Justice in Palestine]], they refused to let Mr. Khaldi speak. There was no intervention from University security or Khaldi's armed guards to ensure the talk could go ahead while security did not have to intervene.<ref>http://news.scotsman.com/news/Israeli-minister-sparks-demo-by.6710007.jp</ref> The president of the International Relations Society at the university, which had been contacted first to host the event, stated that after long discussions, the society had decided not to provide a platform for a representative of the Israeli state as it would be at the expense of the millions of Palestinians who live under Apartheid<ref>http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/edinburgh/Israeli-minister-sparks-demo-by.6710007.jp</ref>. |
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Liam O'Hare, chair of Edinburgh University Students for Justice in Palestine, later boasted that his group had physically intimidated Khaldi into "hiding behind his bodyguards". According to O’Hare’s written account, Khaldi was indistinguishable from President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and that, as Egyptian protesters had risen against the latter, it was the duty of himself and his group to "rise" against the former.<ref>http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3583:edinburgh-students-stop-israels-racist-tours&catid=582:news&Itemid=200587</ref> Liam O'Hare has for several years been a pro-Palestinian Arab Muslim and Christian, but anti-Jewish, nationalist,<ref>http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=731139596</ref>, although his organization, Students for Justice in Palestine professes its pro-Palestinian Arab Muslim and Christian, but anti-Jewish, nationalism to be a form of non- or inter-nationalism.<ref>http://www.facebook.com/sjpal?v=info</ref> |
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The quasi-nationalist fervour of the group was illustrated by the frequent chants by European and Scottish, largely cultural Christian, demonstrators that "We are Palestinians". Further, they frequently chanted, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" (see video link), a hardline Palestinian nationalist sentiment that would, of course, leave very little room or scope for an Israel or Israeli Jews. Some have observed that this direct assault on the meeting of a Scottish Jewish student society constitutes what August Bebel calls "the Socialism of Fools".<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Bebel</ref> The president of the International Relations Society at the university, which had been contacted first to host the event, stated that after long discussions, the society had decided not to provide a platform for a representative of the Israeli state as it was alleged it would be at the expense of the millions of Palestinians whom they allege to live under Apartheid<ref>http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/edinburgh/Israeli-minister-sparks-demo-by.6710007.jp</ref>. |
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In contrast to EU SJP's and SPSC's professed espousal of Egyptian liberation and utter rejection of the Jewish state of Israel (the two things being, in their view, inextricably linked), part of Khaldi’s talk was to inform of the discrimination or apartheid that comprises part of Egyptian (almost all Egyptian Jews were expelled under Nasser, mostly to Israel)<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Jews#Modern_times_.28since_1922.29</ref> and most other Arab (mostly culturally Islamic then culturally Christian) states and societies, at the very least with regard to Jews (but also other minorities), including the Palestinian, which has "resisted" Jews living in Palestine or the land of Israel in other than tiny numbers since at the least the late 19th century, and has discriminated or practised apartheid against Jews for centuries before that. Mr Khaldi’s talk was intended to show how, while the situation of minorities in Israel is imperfect, it is in many ways superior to their situation, especially that of Jews, anywhere else in the Arab, Islamic world. |
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EU SJP’s and SPSC’s hardline position would mean that the Edinburgh University Jewish Society, which then offered to host Khaldi, could never invite any Israeli government diplomat or representative without being invaded and coerced to the will of EUSJP or SPSC. EUSJP chair Liam O'Hare made quite clear in his closing declamations (see link to video), that he regards Israel is an essentially illegimate, racist state a priori. Both EUSJP and SPSC seek not merely a two state solution, but the dissolution of the (one) Jewish state of Israel, the end of a Jewish, but implementing of a Palestinian Arab Muslim and Christian, right of return, turning Israeli Jews into a minority in an Arab majority state, and inevitably ending any kind of Israel shortly thereafter. |
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Such an extreme view point brooks no dialogue with the vast majority of Israeli Jews, or disaspora Jews who sympathise with them, leading to the extreme action against the Edinburgh University Jewish Society, coercing it into ending its gathering by force. This has naturally raised concerns in the Anglo-Jewish community at large. Jenni Frazer, deputy editor of the Jewish Chronicle, called the incident "unbelievable", and for readers to "complain (politely) to the university? Otherwise this is going to get much, much worse." <ref>http://www.thejc.com/blogpost/unbelievable</ref> |
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The matter is currently being investigated by Edinburgh University Union Vice-President Sam Hansford and Chaplain Dr Harriet Harris. |
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==References== |
==References== |
Revision as of 21:33, 8 February 2011
Ismail Khaldi | |
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![]() | |
Deputy Consul in San Francisco | |
In office December 2006 – August 2009 | |
Preceded by | Omer Caspi |
Personal details | |
Born | ![]() |
Website | http://www.ishmaelkhaldi.com |
Ismail Khaldi is the first Bedouin deputy consul of the State of Israel and the nation's first high ranking Muslim diplomat in the Israeli foreign service. In June 2006, he was appointed to serve in San Francisco.[1][2][3] In August 2009 Khaldi was appointed advisor to the minister of foreign affairs Avigdor Lieberman.
Ishmael Khaldi lived in a Bedouin tent until he was 8 years old, walked 4 miles round trip to school each day and tended flocks of sheep. He said his family's ties with its Jewish neighbors go back to the days of the early Zionist pioneers from Eastern Europe who settled in the Galilee region in the 1920s.[3]
Khaldi says there is still a long way to go before the Bedouin minority achieves full equality in Israel, but reported that the situation is improving, and more Bedouins are graduating from high school, entering universities and getting better jobs than ever before.[3]
Ismail Khaldi holds a Masters Degree in Political Science from Tel Aviv University. He served in Israeli Ministry of Defense, Israel Police, and in the Israel Defense Forces as a political analyst.
Khaldi initiated a project called "Hike and Learn with Bedouins in the Galilee" that has brought thousands of young Jews to the village of Khawalid to learn about Bedouin culture and history. He said these encounters inspired him to become a diplomat.[3]
Edinburgh University Incident
On 2 February 2011, Mr. Khaldi began to give a talk hosted by the University of Edinburgh's Jewish Society[4]. As the audience was overwhelmingly made up of members of Students for Justice in Palestine, they refused to let Mr. Khaldi speak. There was no intervention from University security or Khaldi's armed guards to ensure the talk could go ahead while security did not have to intervene.[5] The president of the International Relations Society at the university, which had been contacted first to host the event, stated that after long discussions, the society had decided not to provide a platform for a representative of the Israeli state as it would be at the expense of the millions of Palestinians who live under Apartheid[6].
References
- ^ Asafa Peled (June 22, 2006). "Israel's first Bedouin envoy". Ynetnews.
- ^ Alexandra J. Wall (July 2, 2006). "From shepherd to diplomat: Bedouin named deputy consul". j. the Jewish News Weekly of Northern California.
- ^ a b c d Kalman, Matthew (2006-11-24). "S.F.'s newest consul enjoys being Bedouin, proud to be Israeli / Ishmael Khaldi, who began life as a nomad, is first Muslim envoy to rise through ranks". SF Gate. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
- ^ http://thejc.com/bedouin-arabs/44724/anti-israel-protesters-clash-israels-top-muslim-politician
- ^ http://news.scotsman.com/news/Israeli-minister-sparks-demo-by.6710007.jp
- ^ http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/edinburgh/Israeli-minister-sparks-demo-by.6710007.jp
Publications
- 2010: A Shepherd's Journey: the story of Israel's first Bedouin diplomat. ISBN 978-9655554731.