Israel's Virulent Housing Bias Runs Deep — and It's Not Only Aimed at Arabs

[Jefferson23]

AFULA, Isrsael - From her backyard deck in Yafia, an Arab village west of Nazareth, Iman Sharary, 53, pointed to a plot of land in the distance where her sons will build their homes.

She would have preferred her children stay in Yafia, but with land at a premium in the village, she and her husband sought and won the tender to build in a less expensive area. Afula Illit is a tree-lined suburb about 10 miles south of Yafia. It’s also predominantly Jewish.

Now, the Sharary family is at the center of a local controversy with national proportions. One of dozens of Arab families from northern Israel that won tenders to build 49 homes in Afula Illit, the Shararys and their fellow Arab bidders face the fury of many of their potential Jewish neighbors.

snip* There are other ways that the state maintains segregation and even helps to deepen inequality between sectors. One has to do with the ultra-Orthodox. Because Haredim, as they are known in Hebrew, have larger families and educate their children in sex-segregated schools, the Housing Ministry acknowledges and supports their need for separate neighborhoods to maintain their lifestyle. Yet the Housing Ministry ran up against “not in my backyard” attitudes from several municipalities when it tried to plan Haredi neighborhoods in cities with secular and national religious majorities. Now there is a major housing shortage for ultra-Orthodox Israelis.

Read more: http://forward.com/news/327462/afula-is-latest-front-in-israel-housing-discrimination/#ixzz3vjF4YAC2

[6chars]

1. A housing shortage, gasp!

Sometimes a housing shortage is just a housing shortage. Every country has them. Definitely a problem in Israel which has had economic success and population growth.

[Jefferson23]

2. lol Yep...only a housing shortage, not much else to see here. n/t

[6chars]

3. Israel = Bad, got it.

No, it is not the worst country in the world in every way. It is a pretty good country with a lot of challenges it has to deal with. It values freedom of the press, which allows external haters to cherry pick from Israel's healthy internal debate to turn it into more delegitimization.

[Jefferson23]

4. Save the pleas, you have a tremendous ability to overlook 50 years of occupation.

No government gets a pass, including the US, if you read enough about what they're
responsible for that is.

[oberliner]

5. This article has nothing to do with that

In fact, it is about different groups of Israelis wanting to self-segregrate.

Including secular Jews not wanting to live with ultra-orthodox Jews and vice versa.

In any case, all of the issues described in this article are within Israel itself, not the West Bank.

[Jefferson23]

7. His comments I responded to do and once again, I will note your incessant need

to distract. Knock yourself out.

[oberliner]

8. I don't think talking about the actual article you posted is distracting

In fact, I would think that would be the opposite - i.e. trying to get the conversation back on track.

I do think it is a very interesting topic - that various segments of Israeli society are so different from one another and there is so much hostility and distrust among them.

The article you posted does a very good job of highlighting those issues.

[Jefferson23]

9. I don't think so but the OP is a good topic. n/t

[King_David]

6. Totally ridiculous that this is meant to show that Israel is evil

This happens in every evil country even those that have no Jews around