What is life like in Israel for a non-Jew?

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Well I lived there for quite a while and I'm Catholic. Life was fine. It takes some adjusting to get used to a different Sabath (meaning the week transposes by a day).

For example, in the US the 'Business week' is Monday thru Friday.

There it is Sunday through Thursday.

This just means shopping and planning for the weekend when many stores are closed (however there are many many makulets, or markets, that are open.. but they have higher prices and a bit less selection.. just like any convienence store in the US).

Other than that its all benefits. You get a guaranteed weekend off to relax and have quiet. Some internet services are down and some roads are closed so you must plan around this. Usually I would walk over to a friends house and have a shabat dinner with them... or find a taxi that was operational and take it somewhere.

Typically I could sleep until midnight if I wanted to on Friday night then go out and find a ride to Tel Aviv or a party to go to. I miss it actually. Its much better than America in this respect.

Nothing really that unusual... the siren going off to signal shabat is kinda odd and some neighborhoods play silly music.

I was treated fine. Somethings weren't allowed to me because I wasn't a citizen, but nothing much... I was richer because I wasn't getting paid in shekels so I have no complaints.

I would go back and do it again, in fact, going there just for a week or two would probably suck because living there for long stretches is the way to really soak it up.

Shay p

Life in Israel for a none Jew is like the life of all others.

rememberthecole

Life for a non-Jew in Israel is far better than the life of a non-Muslim in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, or pretty much any other Muslim nation.

Israel allows two Mosques on Temple Mount, the holiest site of the Jews.

Israel allows those of other faiths to practice their faiths.

Saudi Arabia will not allow even one little tiny Christian church, Hindu Temple or Jewish synagogue in their entire nation.

It is a crime in Saudi Arabia to practice another faith, even in private.

Afghanistan is not much better.

Why do you guys always harp on Israel when what the Muslims do is far worse?

kismet

There are many non-Jews in Israel, and they live normal lives like anyone else. See for yourself:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7388445.stm

EDIT:
One who has converted to Judaism is considered 100% Jewish.
Non-Jewish Israelis have the same right and obligations as Jewish Israelis.

dandyl

the life for a non Jew , is the same as any other citizen, they have exactly the same privileges any other citizen.
A converted Jew is a Jew.

âœ¡I LOVE THE ZIONIST ENTITYâœ¡

As everyone said, its all fine and dandy.

Just no gay pride parades in Jerusalem, please.

Ivri Anokhi

Infinitely better than life in an Arab country for a non-Muslim.

.

tambovi

About 30% of Israelis are not Jews,neither ethnically,nor religiously.My wife is not Jewsish,she is Chrisitan by faith and has not Jewish blood in her,and so,by galaha,my childen are not Jews,either.And nothing happens,you know.

âœ¡

Israel treats the Palestinians far more better than any Arab nation would, if Israel was an Arab country, Gaza would of been nuked by now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September_in_Jordan

Also Israel is forced to feed people in Gaza allowing humanitarian aid to hungry terrorists and Arabs that think firing rockets at Israeli civilians is OK, while Israel closes its borders for a short while in response to rocket attacks, Egypt has no reason to close theirs.

custardetapioca

Non-Jews in Israel have both their own village and the Israeli government that they can come to, whereas a converted Jew or any Jew for that matter who does not belong to a particular group, such as a kibbutz, only has the Israeli government to rely on. Other than that, everybody has a similar lifestyle--for Jew and non-Jew alike.

Man

I've never been to Israel but I know it's a secular state with a secular culture. If you want to drink, gamble, have sex, build a church or temple, preach your religion, marry a Jew or whatever, you won't really find trouble. Israel has Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bahais, Ahmadis, gays, atheists... I met an Arab Israeli Christian girl who was very happy there. Most Arab Israeli Muslims are happy to live in a developed country with high quality education and social welfare and full civil rights and political freedoms, not to mention their own Islamic courts and virulently anti-Semitic parties and other organizations, but simply hate it because it's full of Jews. Of course, give them the country and they'll vote in an Islamic government with Shariah law and turn everything into another corrupt, medieval moribund sh!thole like Pakistan or Bangladesh and complain.

A Jewish convert might encounter racism from a small number of Jews, but it's not something that has any ground in Judaism. Even Kahane said, "The convert is as Jewish as me." A few Jews are Ashkenazi (European) and simply feel they're better than nonwhites. It's the same racism you'd see in any European country. Very few, however, not by any means a visible minority.

Edit: Kingbaby's views obviously didn't stop him from coming to Israel before, as we can see in his earlier questions.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjELCcl1i9cAIamdRGVz0ATsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071104205053AALRFTw
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjELCcl1i9cAIamdRGVz0ATsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071104205053AALRFTw
See if you like Saudi Arabia any better buddy.

victor addi

Life in Israel for a non _Jew is just as normal as any where else in the
civilised world.A case in point is the non- Jewish politicians in the
Jewish parliament.One thing is sure abt the Jews.They are very civilised
Secondly, Jews don't go abt trying to convert people to Judaism.
They are more liberal when it comes to religion.It is a joy to live among
them.I watch Aljezeera .net /english tv much so I know what am talking
abt.

fairjuno

Just for clarification to the above contributor "remember": Although Iran is a Muslim country and an Islamic Republic people there are allowed to practice different religions. There are Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians currently living in Iran, practicing their faith out in the open. These religions are officially recognized and protected, and represented in the government.

David S

Most polls here show that almost none of the over one million Arab citizens of Israel, should an Arab country called "Palestine" ever be created, would move there.

Perfect here? No. But even Arabs from Judea and Samaria, and Ghazza, have learned to use Israeli courts and lawyers. And some of the Israeli Arab citizens even voted for Lieberman's party. I know quite a few Arabs here in Galilee who see lots of good, and do not sound like the CNN or BBC-style pseudo-reporting of horrid Jews keeping down the inocent poor Arabs. Lots of educated, professional Arabs here, you know. Quite a few do well.

My wife is a non-Jewish Israeli--a Christian--and she loves her country and feels a part of it.

idesofmarch

ha ha...s*hite

Katy

In my opinion, as a Christian visitor to Israel I would say that in many ways regardless of your background it would appear that life is pretty good for people living in Israel.

Unfortunately however, if you look a little deeper there are a lot of differences between the lives of Jewish and Non-Jewish Israelis. Lets think for a moment about a Palestinian who owns a house on land that subsequently became part of the State of Israel. You would imagine that these people enjoy the same rights as say an American Jew who moved to Israel for work. But no, the difficulties faced by landowners in Israel is just one of the subtle discrimination that can be seen in everyday life.

Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions provides a tour to show first hand some of the complexities of this issue and I guide you to their website for more information. Another useful source of information is the Btselem website, they are a Human Rights Organisation made up of Israeli's investigating and reporting on human rights issues in Israel. I hope that this provides you with some more independent information.

I honestly can understand that most people would think that all Israeli's enjoy the same rights, and I am certainly not suggesting that all non-jewish people are discriminated against, but there is unevenness in some policy and the execution of policy.

justtruthnointimidation

On a recent trip to the region, I visited the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. As the searing afternoon heat and swirling eddies of dust enveloped the camp, I sought cover, slumping under the shade of a palm-roofed hut on the edge of the dunes. I was momentarily defeated by the grit that covered my face and hair, the jostling crowds, the stench of the open sewers and rotting garbage.

Barefoot boys, clutching ragged soccer balls and kites made out of scraps of paper, squatted a few feet away under scrub trees. Men, in flowing white or gray galabias-homespun robes-smoked cigarettes outside their doorways. They fingered prayer beads and spoke in hushed tones as they boiled tea or coffee on sooty coals in small iron braziers in the shade of the eaves. Two emaciated donkeys, their ribs outlined on their flanks, were tethered to wooden carts with rubber wheels.

It was still. The camp waited, as if holding its breath. And then, out of the dry furnace air a disembodied voice crackled over a loudspeaker from the Israeli side of the camp's perimeter fence.

"Come on, dogs," the voice boomed in Arabic. "Where are all the dogs of Khan Younis? Come! Come!"

I stood up and walked outside the hut. The invective spewed out in a bitter torrent. "Son of a *****!" "Son of a whore!" ''Your mother's ****!"

The boys darted in small packs up the sloping dunes to the electric fence that separated the camp from the Jewish settlement abutting it. They lobbed rocks towards a jeep, mounted with a loudspeaker and protected by bulletproof armor plates and metal grating, that sat parked on the top of a hill known as Gani Tal. The soldier inside the jeep ridiculed and derided them. Three ambulances-which had pulled up in anticipation of what was to come-lined the road below the dunes..

There was the boom of a percussion grenade. The boys, most no more than ten or eleven years old, scattered, running clumsily through the heavy sand. They descended out of sight behind the dune in front of me. There were no sounds of gun-fire. The soldiers shot with silencers. The bullets from M-I6 rifles, unseen by me, tumbled end-over-end through their slight bodies. I would see the destruction, the way their stomachs were ripped out, the gaping holes in their limbs and torsos, later in the hospital.

I had seen children shot in other conflicts I have covered--death squads gunned them down in EI Salvador and Guatemala, mothers with infants were lined up and massacred in Algeria, and Serb snipers put children in their sights and watched them crumple onto the pavement in Sarajevo--but I had never watched soldiers entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport.

Chris Hedges, "War is a Force that gives us Meaning"

tamarindwalk

Life for non-Jews is non-life. It's a jewish state. Built, created, and designed solely as a place for jews to live.

Norma Junkie

I don't think it is bad IN Israel. But for a non-Jew in the palestinian territories, that is a whole different story

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