Israel’s First Muslim Minister

by Kevin Jon Heller

In keeping with my recent spate of hopeful posts, it’s my pleasure to mention that Israel is poised to appoint its first-ever Muslim minister:

An Arab-Israeli legislator of the centre-left
Labour Party is to become Israel’s first-ever Moslem minister,
Israeli news channels reported Wednesday night.
Labour Party head Amir Peretz has decided to appoint Raleb
Majadele from the central Arab-Israeli town of Baka el-Garbia as
science, culture and sports minister, Channel 10 and Channel 1
reported, describing the appointment as “historic.”

Peretz nominated Majadele after the previous science, culture and
sports minister, Ophir Pines, also a Labour legislator, resigned in
protest over the addition of an ultra-right party to Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert’s Kadima-led coalition.

Former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon appointed the first-ever
Arab-Israeli minister, Salah Tarif, in 2001, but he resigned in 2002
on charges of corruption. Tarif, however, is a Druze, not a Moslem.

Arab Israelis make up some 20 per cent of Israel’s population of
seven million.

Wonderful news.

January 10th, 2007 - 4:12 PM EDT | Trackback Link |

http://opiniojuris.org/2007/01/10/israels-first-muslim-minister/

2 Responses

  1. I second your sentiment. And assuming the current population growth rate of Arab Israelis remains relatively constant, I suspect this is a sign of things to come. Perhaps some day Israeli law will recognize the state as simply a democratic state (with Jews, Arabs, what have you), not ‘a Jewish and democratic state.’ As Ernest Golberger recently wrote in Logos (Winter 2006):

    ‘“Jewish character,” understood demographically, is inconsistent with principles of equal justice and democracy, leads to permanent social tensions, impairs relations with Arab and other States, and provides arguments to anti-Semites throughout the world. The price for a demographically realized “Jewish character” is naturally to be paid by the non-Jewish population. One finds this chauvinistic spirit today among extreme right-wing groups, immigrants from the former-Soviet Union, and members of the ruling Likud party, who see themselves as the descendents of the Revisionist Zionism that emerged in the twenties of the last century.’

    1.10.2007
    at 6:11 pm EST Patrick S. O'Donnell

  2. Sorry, that’s ‘Ernest Goldberger.’

    1.10.2007
    at 6:13 pm EST Patrick S. O'Donnell

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