By “The culture of cleanliness isn’t the same as ours,” Moti Dottan stated when explaining why he didn’t want Arab people at Jewish pools. Sharing his views on Kol Rega radio station, Dotan, council chief of Lower Galilee, Israel, implied that Arabs are unclean.
During his interview, Dotan condemned Arab swim attire for not fitting the Jewish-Israeli norm, while also talking about his Arab friends; because having an Arab friend can’t possibly mean someone is a racist.
Following the backlash his comments generated, Dotan visited another radio station to apologize. In this halfhearted and underwhelming apology, Dotan described how Arab pool goers bring food to the pool and make a mess.
This demonization of Arab people from infancy and the call for having separate accommodations for different ethnic groups is reminiscent of the segregation and apartheid that plagued most of the world at some point in the past.
“In Arab culture, it is customary to bring lunch or dinner to the pool and when, usually, when it’s crowded, mess is left behind. My Jewish residents don’t make a mess and don’t leave trash behind.” Of course Dotan knows for sure who leaves messes behind because everyone writes their ethnicity on all of their trash.
Though criticized by some Israeli parliament members, Dotan’s remarks are part of a larger trend of racism in Israel. This divisive mode of thought has become quite common and accepted among Israelis. Last April, another parliament member, Bezalel Smotrich, demanded that Arab women and Israeli-Jewish women give birth in different rooms.
“It’s natural that my wife wouldn’t want to lie down [in a bed] next to a woman who just gave birth to a baby who might want to murder her baby 20 years from now,” Smotrich tweeted.
This demonization of Arab people from infancy and the call for having separate accommodations for different ethnic groups is reminiscent of the segregation and apartheid that plagued most of the world at some point in the past.
It’s curious that as societies throughout the world attempt to move past their histories of segregation, many Israelis wish to move toward a segregated society.
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Written by Zarina Iman