5 December 2006
Mr. Alan Edelman
Associate Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas
5801 W. 115th St. Suite 201
Overland Park
Kansas 66211
USA
Dear Mr. Edelman,
On behalf of The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), I am writing to draw your attention to the extremely racist statements recently made by the Mayor of the mixed city of Ramle, Yoel Lavi. Mayor Lavi made these comments in an interview to a journalist in response to the request of Arab residents to change some of the Hebrew names of streets to names to which the Arab public could relate.
(See Y-Net News, “Arab MKs: Ramle mayor racist, should resign,” on 30th November 2006, www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3334463,00.html (.
Mayor Lavi angered many when he said: “If they don’‘t like it, they should go and live in Jaljulia (an Arab village), which is an Arab name. What happened, what? Why should I change the name, because Jamal wants to change the name? He should change his Allah.” He then proceeded to curse Arab citizens using appallingly foul and offensive language, which was toned down in the English-language media reports and which is too obscene to be quoted here.
Such flagrantly racist remarks made by a public figure seriously undermine the democratic foundations of the State and cannot be ignored. However, the gravity of these remarks is further exacerbated by the fact that they were made by the mayor of a mixed city, thereby causing grievous damage to all efforts towards coexistence. Labor MK Rabbi Michael Melchior said in response to Lavi`s comments that, “As a Jew who is a citizen of this state, and as chairman of the Knesset`s Education and Culture Committee, I am deeply ashamed at hearing Ramle Mayor Yoel Lavi`s horrible racist remarks. Such remarks should have no room in the State of Israel . The mayor must urgently repair the injustice caused to his residents and to all of us and apologize.”
Unfortunately, there was very little reaction against these comments from Jewish Israeli decision makers and from the Israeli public at large, and Lavi has yet to publicly apologize for the essence of his remarks (although he did express regret for the offensive manner in which he expressed himself).
We understand that Greater Kansas City is the partner city of Ramle, which is why we believe that it is important to bring this issue to your attention. We are sure that you share our concern about the racist statements expressed by Mayor Lavi, which are fundamentally opposed to the principles of democracy and human rights.
Sincerely yours,
Rachel Benziman
ACRI`s Executive Director
last updated : 06/12/06
