Rabbi vs. Rula Jebreal: You’re a Palestinian with Israeli Citizenship Living a Western Life
Rabbi vs. Rula Jebreal: You Are a Palestinian Woman Who Has Israeli Citizenship and Lives a Western Life (RealClearPolitics)
JEBREAL: "I think France would not be the same without its Jews. I think democracy is how you protect your minorities, how you make them feel at home. The best thing I think about electing President Obama is telling the rest of the world how you need to be fair and inclusive to your minority. We're talking before, Don, as you mentioned about [Selma]. It's about not only the protection, but also about making them feel at home and part of the society. Five million Muslims there but you have a smallest number, as Fareed Zakaria mentioned, of radical extremists who killed also Muslims as well. Remember, the police officer that was killed, Ahmad, was a Muslim. But another Muslim defended those Jews and hid them. You have an issue with anti-Semitism and the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, and you have also an issue with anti-immigration. People will use --"
LEMON: "So where is all of this coming from? That's a question that people here who are watching in America, where is all of this coming from?"
JEBREAL: "It comes from the same place. Hate --"
BOTEACH: "Well, Don, with all due respect --"
LEMON: "Go ahead, Rabbi."
BOTEACH: "Let's be honest. I mean, to separate the anti-Semitism growing in France and in many other European countries, because Jews don't feel comfortable in almost any place in Europe today, it cannot be separated from constant Islamic incitement. Now, I believe that Islam is a great world religion. I think Rula is portraying Islam the way it should be portrayed. Having said that, we're not hearing enough of the mainstream Muslims condemning the incitement against Jews. Not talking about Israel, not talking about political policy, foreign policy, we're talking about cartoons of Jews with giant noses in Arab state-sponsored media. We're talking about Hamas with a genocidal charter -- a genocidal charter -- calling for the annihilation and the extermination of every Jew on planet Earth and people defending Hamas, and not saying that if you want to be seen with any kind of legitimacy you cannot have a charter calling for every Jew to be slaughtered. So, with all due respect, I would like to see my Muslim brothers and sisters, I want to see a million Muslim march, not just three half million French men and women marching. Muslims have to take their religion back from monsters. You can no longer say that it's a small minority inciting anti-Semitism against Jews. On the contrary, this is entering the body politic because it's not being sufficiently repudiated and condemn by the mainstream with a large scale activities and marches."
LEMON: "I want Rula to get in because Fareed Zakaria just said the same thing that Muslims have to take their religion back. What do you say?"
JEBREAL: "I think the religion has been hijacked by these extremists. But they are taking it back for the first time I'm seeing millions of people. Remember in that march in --"
LEMON: "But what do you think about what he said? He says he wants to see millions of Muslims -- a million Muslim march."
JEBREAL: "I think that's a great idea and I want to invite with that. Let's look also about the history of what's been happening. Iraq, Syria, Palestine, these were the most secular places in the Middle East. The most secular, until 2003. But then we've seen the rise of these extremists and they're connected to certain policies. We need to separate extremists from regular ordinary Muslims. We can't also blame them for their own suffering, whether it's in Iraq, Syria or elsewhere because they are really on the frontline fighting this battle, whether it's in Iraq, in Syria, and in many other countries and even within Palestinian territories. But I want to tell to Rabbi, this is really something that we learned from Selma, as you mentioned, when you uphold the supremacy of one ethnic group, this is not a democracy anymore, this is an ethnocracy. We need to reject that whether it's in Europe, in Israel, or here in America. We can't have segregation as an answer. It's inclusion and unity."
LEMON: "Quickly Rabbi, I'm up against time."
BOTEACH: "With all due respect, Rula, you're excusing violence and that's very tragic. When you start bringing up that Israel's policy, it's terrible that Jews are being targeted, that Israel has to stop the segregation. Let's stop the nonsense. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. You are a Palestinian woman who has Israeli citizenship. You are allowed freedom of expression. No one tells you who to fall in love with, you don't get shot by your uncle or by your brother because you fall in love with somebody your father doesn't approve of. You live a Western life. You live with the kind of human rights that Israel protects. Israel has 1.5 million Arab citizens, there is no segregation and we all know that. So let's not excuse terrorism with some Israeli policy."
