Commenting on Atias's statements, some leftist members of the Knesset have deplored the racism implicit in his policies.
"Racism is spreading throughout the government, and Minister Atias is the latest to express it," said Hadash Chairman Mohammad Barakeh. "The government and everyone in it must realize that Arabs are living in their homeland and they have no other. If there is any foreign element in the Galilee, it is not the Arabs." [For details, see Haaretz.com, and Ynet.com, July 2, 2009]
Last September, in announcing favorable housing decisions for his ultra-Orthodox brethren, Atias reaffirmed his goal of achieving a segregated society.
"I've said it in the past and I say it again: I don't think populations can be mixed together," Atias told Haaretz. "A Haredi [ultra-Orthodox] population needs to live in locations with other Haredim, so we don't descend to sectarian violence, as is happening right now in Kiryat Yovel in Jerusalem. "
"I advocate the separation of population groups as a healthy solution."
The 39-year-old Atias is regarded as a poorly educated politician who travels little, if at all, outside Israel. Still, he is an emerging powerbroker in the Shas Party, which represents a key element of Netanyahu's Likud coalition. Atias, who previously was in charge of inspecting kosher meat and who has advocated censorship of the Internet, was placed second on the Shas candidate list in 2009.
In Israel, the position of Housing Minister also is very important, given the significance of settlements to the concept of a Greater Israel and to the peace process. Past housing ministers have included future prime ministers, including Ariel Sharon and Netanyahu himself.
Atias's intolerance toward the mixing of Arabs and Jews and even Jews of different religious orientation goes a long way to explain the refusal of Netanyahu's government to pull back on expansion of Jewish settlements into traditionally Arab lands. To do so would risk rupturing the governing coalition.
"Anti-Semitic' Charge
Criticism of Israeli housing policies often draws angry responses from right-wing Israelis and American neoconservatives.
For instance, the Obama administration's complaint about Atias's housing decision during Biden's visit prompted Netanyahu's brother-in-law, Hagai Ben Artzi, to label Obama as "anti-Semitic," adding: "it's not that Obama doesn't sympathize with [Netanyahu]. He doesn't sympathize with the people of Israel."
Netanyahu quickly distanced himself from Artzi's comment.
American neocons also have blamed Obama primarily for the housing dispute with Netanyahu's government.
On Tuesday, the Washington Post's neocon editorialists wrote, "It has been a little startling and a little puzzling to see Mr. Obama deliberately plunge into another public brawl with the Jewish state. " The dispute's dramatic escalation " seems to have come at the direct impetus of Mr. Obama."
On March 2, Post columnist Richard Cohen labeled as anti-Semitic pretty much anyone who objects to Israel's discrimination against Palestinians. Israel "is not motivated by racism," Cohen declared. "That's more than can be said for many of its critics."
Cohen was especially outraged by anyone who would compare the plight of Palestinians in and around Israel to South African blacks under "apartheid." Yet, while the parallel is far from perfect, Atias's plans for segregated neighborhoods for Arabs, for secular Jews and for ultra-Orthodox Jews does sound a lot like apartheid.
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