46% OF ISRAELI TEENS: REVOKE ARABS’ RIGHTS

Mar 31, 2011

The Ugly Truth

Revolt of the Plebs
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Friedrich Ebert Foundation’s Youth Study reveals Israel’s teens think greatest threat to state is Jewish-Arab conflict, believe less in democratic values. As for whom they trust most ~ IDF gets 93%

A new study examining Jewish and Arab Israeli teens’ opinions on a wide range of issues shows nearly half of Jewish youths support revoking Arab-Israelis’ basic rights.

The study focused on such issues as nationalism, democracy and attitudes towards State institutions.

The results: Israeli teens in 2010 believe less in democracy, are inclined towards rebelliousness and violence, are more racist and some have given up hope for peace. They are also more right-wing and patriotic.

The third Youth Study (previous studies were held in 1998 and 2004) conducted by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in cooperation with the Macro Center for Political Economics examined Israeli teen and youth trends over the past 12 years.

The results of the first two studies can be found here.

In total, 1,600 teens from two age groups ~ 15-18 and 21-24 were interviewed.

Each age group included 600 Jewish and 200 Arab interviewees. The study’s conclusions, presented by the Dachaf Public Opinion Research Institute directed by Dr. Mina Tzemach, are available in a book which will be published Thursday.

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According to the data, the importance of democracy as a national goal among Israeli teens has dropped from second place in 1998 (26%) to third place in 2010 with just 14.3%. Meanwhile, the importance of “Jewishness” as a national goal has climbed from third place (18.1% in 1998) to first place in 2010 with 26%.

About 60% of Jewish youths prefer “strong leadership” to rule of law and the study reveals that 46% of those asked tended to negate the basic political rights like the right to be elected from Israel’s Arab citizens.

Asked how they feel when they think of Arabs,

25% responded with “hate”

and 12% responded with “fear”.

When it comes to State institutions, the IDF received Israeli teens’ virtual complete trust (93%). Surprisingly, the survey shows that more teens trusted politicians in 2010 ~ from 38% in 1998 to 43% in 2010.

Analysis of the data shows that a majority of Israel’s youth (42%) believe that the Jewish-Arab conflict is the biggest threat to the State of Israel, compared with 23% that claimed that the schism between religious and secular Jews is the most dangerous.

In 1998, the findings were quite different as 44% saw the religious-secular rift as the biggest threat, while only 27% believed that the Jewish-Arab conflict was the most menacing. Researchers believe this shows a process of radicalization within Israeli society.
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“It is possible that the combination of years of intifada and its effect on Jews, together with the October 2000 riots and their effect on Arabs, and the increase in nationalistic rhetoric in the political arena over the past few years are behind the perception that this issue is the most threatening to both communities,” the researchers noted.

“There is no doubt that there is a direct tie between this perception and the drop in support for democratic values and equal rights for Arabs.”

Analysis also revealed that the increase in feelings of fear and aversion towards Arabs manifests in political identity. Thus, 13 years ago only 48% of those interviewed defined themselves as right-wing whereas in 2010 the result was 62%.

While in 1998, 32% of the teens defined themselves as left-wing, in 2010 only 12% considered themselves as such.

AND NOW FOR A LITTLE PIECE FROM TODAY'S HA'ARETZ 

ON ISRAELI TEENS AND EDUCATIONAL INDOCTRINATION. 
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STUDENTS ON TRIP TO IDF BASE SIMULATED

SHOOTING TARGETS WITH ARAB HEADDRESS

As Jesuits used to say, get a child when he’s young, up to the age of 7, I believe, and they have him for life. And then there is Israel. There the education system teaches  the kids to hate Arabs and you can rest assured that they will do exactly that when they grow up, except for a tiny minority.

And meanwhile let the world know that it’s the Arabs and Islam which are the real problem for their hatred of Jews. 

Indeed it difficult to see the difference between what Haaretz describes below and the Hitler Youth.  But then again, all the Nazis really did was shift to new locations when they saw the lay of the war.... but that is another conversation.

The following incident took place during at a military base where students were being escorted as part of an 'IDF preparation' project, sanctioned by the Education Ministry.

By Or Kashti,

Ha'aretz 

3.4.11.

Twelfth-grade students from Herzliya's Hayovel High School took part in a simulated shooting attack in which the targets were figures decked out with the Arab keffiyeh headdress, Haaretz has learned.

The incident took place at a military base last week during the annual 12th grade trip. The students were being escorted to a commanders' base in the Negev as part of an "IDF preparation" project, which is sanctioned by the Education Ministry. Herzliya’s Hayovel School - Nir Keidar

According to a person familiar with the details, the event was tantamount to "educating toward hatred of Arabs."

"Some citizens of the State of Israel wear keffiyehs," the source said. "Now they are viewed as legitimate targets for a shooting simulation."

The trip concluded on Thursday. In a notice that was sent to parents, the school said that

"the course of the trip is an inseparable part of the educational curriculum in general, and the 'IDF preparation' in particular."

The first day of the trip included "activities with soldiers in commanders' school," according to the notice. The students met with soldiers on the base and heard lectures about the army and the importance of conscription.

During one of the discussions, the students were told that whoever does not serve in a combat unit 

 "does not perform meaningful service."

During the visit to the base, some of the students took part in an "electronic shooting range," a computer-generated simulation that recreates a setting in which a soldier uses a laser-guided weapon to shoot targets. According to sources, the images in the electronic shooting range were outfitted with keffiyehs.

"From what I understood, the boys were more excited about this visit than the girls, some of whom preferred not to take part," said the parent of one student on the trip. "I don't think that it's the education system's job to train students to shoot."

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The "IDF preparation" project usually entails the visit of army officers to schools as well as occasional class trips to army bases for educational and instructional activities. This is believed to be one of the first times a visit to an army base has included students' participation in a military activity. Children who are eligible for conscription usually undergo introductory military training as part of "Gadna Week," which is not under the purview of the school system.

A school official said that the use of an electronic simulator that depicted a target wearing a keffiyeh "is certainly problematic, but this is a wider and more fundamental issue than our visit to the base. We have no intention of teaching the students to shoot people with keffiyehs."

The Education Ministry did not issue a comment as of press time.