"It is a historic decision ... proof that Israel protects its citizens and identity of its minorities, unlike all the Arab nations around us," Aramean-Christian community leader says • Interior minister instructs Population Authority to act accordingly.
Aramean-Christian community leader Shadi Halul
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Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar on Tuesday approved having "Aramean" as a nationality on Israeli identification cards, a move warmly received by Israel's Christian-Aramean community.
In a letter written to Population Authority chairman Amnon Ben-Ami, Sa'ar said that after receiving an appeal on the matter, he heard the recommendations of three experts from three different academic institutions, who said the Supreme Court had found that "the Aramean nationality clearly exists, and has the conditions required to prove its existence, including historical heritage, religion, culture, origin and common language."
Sa'ar instructed clerks at the Population Authority to allow citizens applying for their identification cards for the first time to be registered with Aramean as their nationality, "as long as they uphold the conditions stipulated."
Aramean-Christian community leader and IDF Maj. (res.) Shadi Halul welcomed the decision.
"It is a historic decision and a historic change for the relations between Christians and Jews in the state of Israel," Halul said. "...It is proof that Israel protects its citizens and the identity of its minorities, unlike all the Arab nations around us."
Israeli Christians Recruitment Forum Director Gabriel Nadaf, one of the original proponents of adding the Aramean nationality to identification cards, called the announcement a "brave decision by the interior minister."
"All Christians from the 133,000 Christians who live in Israel and belong to one of the Eastern churches can now be listed as a Aramean," he said.
...and from Israel Hayom, 17 Sept 2014, by Dror Eyal:
This is history in the making. ...The Muslim invasion in the seventh century forced Arab culture on many peoples who lived in the area long before anyone had ever heard of Islam.
Familiar with the "Druze" and the "Circassians"? Starting now, practice using the term "Arameans."
This past year, we at Israel Hayom and various interfaith forums have followed the demand of Christian Israelis to be recognized as a separate ethnic group.
"We aren't Arabs," they stress repeatedly. "We're Christians who speak Arabic."
Until the Muslim occupation, they spoke Aramaic, which for more than 1,000 years served as a lingua franca for the peoples of the region, including our own. Even parts of the Bible were written in Aramaic, not to mention the Talmud, our great legal and cultural codex. Even today, Aramaic is used as the "holy language" in the liturgy and ceremonies of Eastern churches (and I can testify that I understood a lot of these prayers by just listening), and in some of them the writing remains the same squarish Assyrian script that we Hebrew speakers also use.
The breakdown of Arab nations and their return to primordial social structures -- tribes, ethnicities, and clans -- has exposed Arab culture's years-long efforts to eradicate the identity of minority groups. The Israeli Arameans aren't the first ones to shake off the artificial identity that was imposed upon them, but this is also a fundamental statement to the world.
Anyone who has eyes can see that Christians have become a persecuted minority whose blood is forfeit to the Islamofascist ideology, whose believers crucify, rape, and murder Christians, or forcibly convert them to Islam.
In some places, the Middle East has gone back in time 1,400 years, and not only in Iraq and Syria. The situation is no better in the Palestinian Authority. In the past two decades, Bethlehem has been emptied of nearly all its Christian residents, and today they make up only 1.5 percent of the city, which is mostly Muslim.
Incidentally, last January the Iraqi parliament designated Aramaic an official language in an attempt to stop Iraq's Christians from fleeing the country. One can see in the many Internet clips what happened to the poor Christians who didn't escape.
Unlike the dim situation in the rest of the world, the State of Israel is the only place in the region where there is no Christian emigration; the local Christian community is flourishing.
Socio-economically, too: With the recognition of a separate Aramean ethnicity, new opportunities are opening up to integrate Christians into all aspects of Israel society -- from army service (for which more are signing up every year) to other Israeli institutions, including political parties, as this paper reported over a year ago.
For years, the Arameans have been asking for a separate school system for their children. Currently, for example, there is no textbook that teaches their own history, only the history of Arabs and Islam.
The Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum was established based on the words of its founder Maj. Ihab Shlayan:
"Christians won't be held hostage, won't be ruled any longer by those who would force their ethnicity, religion, and way of life on them. We won't be protected wards and hide behind the groups who control the street. We want to live in Israel -- brothers in arms and brothers in peace, to stand guard and be on the front line in protecting the Holy Land, the Land of Israel."
Interior Minister Gideon Saar, who showed courage and determination when he seriously looked at the Arameans' demand that their identity be recognized, also deserves a word of praise. Last night justice was done in Israel and a historic wrong was righted. Congratulations to the Arameans, and here's to a fruitful life together in the Holy Land.
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