Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Are Religious People Less Racist In English?

Ha'aretz today publishes a "Survey" showing that " Most Israeli Jews support apartheid regime in Israel". I wish I could debunk this smear, unfortunately the survey does not appear to be available. However, I do have some points to make:


  • All the groupings are by religious affiliation: 
"The survey distinguishes among the various communities in Israeli society - secular, observant, religious, ultra-Orthodox and former Soviet immigrants."
Since when are former Soviet immigrants a distinct religious group? are there no secular soviet immigrants? no religious ones?

Secondly, this line in the Hebrew version more than irked me: 

 החילונים מתגלים, כצפוי, כפחות גזענים מכל המגזרים - ל-68% מהם לא היה מפריע להתגורר באותו בניין עם שכנים ערבים, 73% לא מתנגדים לתלמידים ערבים בכיתה של ילדיהם, ו-50% סבורים שלא רצוי שתתקיים אפליה בקבלה למקומות עבוד 
 (emphasis added)
Translated that reads "The secular public, as expected, comes out as the least racist" - Who expected exactly? I didn't know it was a known truth that all religious people are racists. Thank you Ha'artz for enlightening me.  In the English article the same comment reads differently "Secular Israelis appear to be the least racist" so it is possible that this anti religious belief is the work of a translator and not the author Gideon Ha'levi. 

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