MK Ahmad Tibi is probably the most well known Arab MK in Israel these days. Unfortunately, much of that has to do with the occasional media stunt he pulls. But hey, if Bibi can use the media – why not Tibi?
I found it quite amusing that Tibi was a guest on the ancient radio segment on the Voice of Israel called “A Moment in Hebrew,” a short little program that deals every day with everything and anything that has to do with, you got it: Hebrew.
I can’t say I agree with just about everything Tibi says here, and my translation might be off in a few places (apologies), but in some instances he makes a pretty good point.
“A moment of Hebrew”
Shalom to MK Ahmad Tibi,
a doctor, the head of the Ta’al party in the Knesset
This is Menchem Peri.
Dr. Tibi, you’ve been an MK for almost 13 years,
and today you asked to speak of titles, that, according to you
are given to Arabs, as opposed to titles that are usually given to Jews.
Go ahead, please.
This is a dream come true, to be on “A Moment of Hebrew”
Jews usually have families “blessed with children”,
Arabs, they have families of “multiple children”
The Jew usually has a “family”
The Arab has a “clan” (hamula)
The Jew usually marries the choice of his heart, “a new immigrant”
The Arab does a “uniting of families”
The Jews have “natural growth”
The Arabs are a “demographic threat”
The Jews and settlers have “unallowed outposts”
and the Arabs have “illegal building”
The Arabs are, for some reason, always “educated”
The Jews are always “intellectuals”.
The Arabs are “honorable”,
but the Jews are always “personages”
Jews “demonstrate”, they have “demonstrations”
with the Arabs, it’s “riots”
The Arabs have “oriental fancy”,
The Jews have “poetic license”
And at the end of the day,
you can always use the same phrase
but the context, and the analogy is different
and this is all the difference.
A moment of meaning. Thank you very much, MK Ahmad Tibi.