Capitol Ideas
Bethell, Tom
by Tom Bethell The Bush Clan's Return Will President George W. be more than his father's son? We welcomed a Bush presidency 12 years ago, and we do so even more today. Any doubts we...
...Each community has its own religious councils and courts, and has full jurisdiction over religious affairs, including matters of personal In contrast to the non-Israeli Arab world, Arab women in Israel enjoy the same status as men...
...If the recent experience has taught George W. that judicial nominees really do matter, and that crony advice is not good enough, all is not lost...
...We already see the first steps of a possible reenactment...
...In the tense hours before the Supreme Court ruled, the whofe Bush clan had plenty of time to ponder: How on earth did that David Souter get onto the Court...
...His presidency was immediately undone...
...Since the surrounding Arab states are the avowed enemies of Israel and dedicated to its destruction (there is "peace" with Egypt and Jordan), this exemption is granted by the Israeli government to its Arab citizens, so as to spare them conflicts of loyalty and conscience...
...It rarely occurs to them that the advice may come from enemies rather than friends...
...Box 590359 ? San francisco,CA 94159 FLAME is a tax-exempt, non-profit educational 501(c)(3) organization...
...But reductions in top tax rates will certainly produce more revenue, as they did immediately under President Reagan, and as documented in Bush adviser Lawrence Lindsay's book, The Growth Experiment...
...They publish what they please, subject only to the same military censorship as Jewish publications...
...Every Knesset, since the founding of the State in 1948, has had Arab and Druze members...
...Any doubts we left about George Bush in 1988 were small compared to the gratitude we left for his defeat of Michael Dukakis...
...President-elect George W. Bush promised to be bipartisan and compassionate, reaching out to address society's "deepest problems, one person at a time...
...Republications of the moderate varietyare all too willing to take pofitical advice at face value, especially when it is phrased in the fanguage of "doing what is right for the country...
...If Bush's peopfe are too timid to insist that this be incorporated into the Federal budget, as Republications also were when they took controf of Congress in 1995, it augurs poorly for the new administration...
...the Arabs in Israel enjoy every civil right and have the same status status, such as marriage and divorce...
...To understand why, recall what happened a decade ago...
...No need to stress the importance of picking wisely when it comes to the Supreme Court...
...About 20% of the population (over one million people) are non-Jews, most of them Arabs, and some Druze...
...new taxes...
...under law as Jewish Israelis" What are the facts...
...Israeli health institutions are freely open to all Arabs, on the same basis as they are to Jews...
...Contrary to propaganda...
...Arabic is an official language in Israel, together with Hebrew...
...Different religions, cultures, and social traditions co-exist...
...The fast item immediately put the Democrats onto a war footing, however...
...Israeli Arabs Enjoy Full Equality in Law and in fact...
...Today, as we contemplate Al Gore's near win, our feeling of relief is that much greater...
...In summary, they enjoy the highest standards of living and liberty of any Arabs in the Middle East...
...by Tom Bethell The Bush Clan's Return Will President George W. be more than his father's son...
...But I like to think the Bushes already learned their lesson...
...Refreshing confirmation of this came from the cofumnist and TV commentator Jack Germond, who said recently that Bush would quite possibly do better than he, Germond, hoped he would...
...Almost all of our revenue pays for our educational work, for these clarilying messages, and for related direct mail...
...Arabic is taught in Jewish secondary schoofs...
...Better fate than never...
...It has thus vastly changed the status of women, to far above that of any country in the region...
...Significantly, however, the same percentage (70%) declared that they would much prefer to five in Israel than in any other country in the area...
...14 February 2001 The American Spectator You deserve a factual look at...
...George W. Bush would like to revive these tax cuts and add across-the-board income tax-rate relief...
...With the tax burden having risen to World War II levels, and with tax revenues flooding the Treasury, it's pork heaven in Washington, and has been for some time...
...They enable us to pursue these goafs and to publish these messages in national newspapers and magazines...
...The world is once again confronted with viofence in Israel and its administered territories...
...They found an unwitting ally in House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, who unwisely urged that these tax proposals be considered separately...
...Israel is an open, pluralistic, and egalitarian society...
...Jews have been living in Arab countries for almost 2,000 years...
...Its purpose is the research and publication of the facts regarding developments in the Middle East and exposing false propaganda that might harm the interests of the United States and its allies in that area of the world.Your tax-deductible contributions are welcome...
...In a recent pofl, 70% of Israel's Arabs declared that they identified with and felt loyalty to the Palestinians, and not to the state of Israel...
...The return of the Bush clan to Washington gives rise to much apprehension, nonetheless...
...Israeli law grants women equal rights, including the right to vote and to be elected to public office, prohibits pofygamy, child marriage, and the barbarity of female sexual mutifation...
...Most distressing, Israeli Arabs, citizens of the country, have joined in the rioting and have suffered and caused many casualties...
...Education and literacy of the Arab population in Israel is as high as and probably higher than in any Arab country...
...President Clinton vetoed both measures...
...like all other Israeli citizens, they have full rights to vote and to hofd elective office...
...The federal judiciary was transformed into a pofitical branch of government decades ago, under Earl Warren...
...Under Arab dominance, they were always third-class citizens and subject to harassment and persecution...
...Warren Rudman, Souter's promoter, was given carte blanche...
...How come former Sen...
...Then, in 1990, he retracted his most conspicuous promise -"Read my lips, no TOM BETHELL is The American Spectator's senior editor...
...The Arabs of Israel Are they a "persecuted minority...
...And we salute Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy, who proved to be good Republications when their votes were essential...
...As the Duke of Wellington said after Waterloo, it was a close run thing...
...As for Justice Stevens's warning, that the court's ruling will damage "the nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law," it's time that bromide was relegated to the "civics for suckers" textbook...
...Protection of such diversity is embedded in Israel's traditions and confirmed by the government...
...Both Arabs and Druze hofd seats in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament...
...Israeli Arabs - Moslems, as well as many Christian denominations - are free to exercise their faiths, to observe their own weekly day of rest and hofidays, and to administer their own internal allairs...
...It is official poficy of the Israeli government to foster the fanguage, culture, and traditions of the Arab minority, in the educational system and in daily life...
...There are daily TV and radio programs in Arabic...
...On the pretext of one of Israel's ministers visiting the Temple Mount, the Palestinians erupted in bloody rioting, which has not yet ended and in which hundreds so far have died...
...All transand Arab members may address the Knesset in Arabic...
...This ad has been published and paid for by facts and Logic About the Middle East P.O...
...One change is urgently needed...
...There are close to 1,000 Arab educational institutions in Israel, with about 300,000 students - just about 25 times as many as in 1948, when the State of Israel was created, Ninety percent of Arab children attend schoof, probably the highest ratio of any Arab population anywhere...
...Israel's Arabic press is the most vibrant and independent of any country in the region...
...He seemed not to understand that the damaging advice ultimately came from people who wanted his presidency to fail...
...All religious communities in Israel enjoy the full protection of the State...
...The major news organizations and television networks certainly want Bush to fail, and he should bear that in mind whenever they press upon him this or that poficy...
...Israeli health standards are by far the highest in the Middle East...
...The literacy rate among Israeli Arabs is 95%, virtually the same as for Israeli Jews...
...Israeli universities and technical institutions are freely available to the Arabs...
...There are more than 20 Arabic periodicals...
...About 5,000 Arab students attend such schoofs...
...We have virtually no overhead...
...With Democratic support, Congress passed both marriage-penalty tax relief and a reduction of estate taxes fast year...
...Israel is a Democratic Country...
...Bush's proposed tax bill is called a "$1.3 trillion tax cut"the supposed loss to the government...
...There is, however, one difference between the "rights" of Arabs and Jews in Israel...
...The hofy sites of all religions are administered by actions in the Knesset are simultaneously translated into Arabic, their own authorities and protected by the government...
...If it takes a pro-Republication majority to get that word out- so be it...
...He did not seem to grasp, as the Democrats did, that if the other cuts are enacted first, the pressure for the (economically more important) reduction of income tax rates will be dissipated...
...As with his father, the most important item on his domestic agenda is tax poficy...
...Just to be sure, with future nominees, it might be best to check with Justice Antonin Scalia first...
...Bush Sr., kinder and gentler, surrounded himself with moderate Republications whose recommendations appealed to the New York Times and were acceptable to Democrats...
...But there are now over one million Arabs in Israel, many more than after the exodus in 1948 - a manifofd increase...
...Contrary to propaganda and to what many believe, the Arabs in Israel are full-fledged citizens, enjoy every civil right, have the same status in law as Jewish Israelis, and can freely move all over the country without fear of being harassed, attacked, or killed...
...That alone would seem to prove that things can't be all that bad for Arabs in Israel...
...It is instructive and sobering to compare the condition of the approximately one million Arabs in Israel with that of the pitiful remnants of Jewry in Arab countries...
...We give a cheery wave to Ralph Nader, whose adoring press coverage of 35 years' duration came to an abrupt end in November...
...There were about 900,000 Jews in Arab countries in 1946-now there are fewer than 25,000...
...Republications should stop expressing tax cuts as revenue losses...
...Arabs are exempted from military duty and are not required to perform any compensating civilian service...
...Israeli and Druze men are required to do three years of military service and then serve one month every year until they are 50...
...Bush rightly sees the need to return the surplus to the taxpayers before Washington gobbles it up...
...Israeli universities are renowned centers of learning in the history and literature of the Arab Middle East...
...Tax rate reductions would threaten their hofy of hofies: tax progressivity, cfass warfare, and fiscal punishment of the productive...
Vol. 34 • February 2001 • No. 1
