Answer

About that it was said: if fools don't behave, then they don't.
——————————————————————————————
Questioner:
After that idiotic post by the Knesset member, we can all relax. There is no racism in this country. A week ago, the head of the Lower Galilee Regional Council announced on the radio that he would not let Arabs enter a regional swimming pool because they make it dirty! Very prominent rabbis call not to rent apartments to Arabs and not to buy in their businesses. But apparently that doesn't bother Kalman so much…
——————————————————————————————
Rabbi:
On the other hand, it bothers Zandberg too much. So everyone has his own hang-up.
By the way, I don't know what the factual truth is (and I'm not sure you do either), but maybe the Arabs really do dirty the pool there? Did you check? True, even if they do make it dirty, one has to think how to act against the people making the mess without harming innocent people, but if this is a general phenomenon, then maybe it's very easy to criticize the council head from the armchair, but let's see you offer another solution. In any case, if that is the situation, it's certainly not simple to talk here about racism. Something similar happened with the park in Ramat Gan (I forgot its name) near Bnei Brak, which they closed off on the Bnei Brak side to Haredim. There too this was a generalizing attitude, but if indeed the Bnei Brak municipality and the Haredim do not themselves take care of their residents and build yeshivas and corruption instead of parks, and exploit the investment of the Ramat Gan municipality in order to evade their duty toward their own residents, and especially if the Haredim dirty the park because of their lack of awareness (if that is indeed the case), then there is certainly room to understand the anger and the measures taken by the Ramat Gan municipality against them—unless, of course, we are sitting comfortably in our armchair. The same applies in the present case (if, for example, the Arab local authority does not build pools for its residents and relies on the neighboring pool and sends the people who make a mess there). All this is hypothetical, of course, but it is worth checking the facts before issuing a decisive judgment.
And regarding the call not to rent apartments and not to buy in Arab businesses—this has not the slightest connection to racism. This is a national struggle, and the Arabs act in this matter far more wildly than the Jews do. In many cases those rabbis are only trying to balance the picture (go and see how many Jewish residents there are in Umm al-Fahm or in Arraba. And look at the facts as reported by Libskind about the benefits and compensation Bedouins receive for illegal construction).
By the way, I published in the press a sharp letter against the ruling of Rabbi Eliyahu and the rest of his fellow rabbis about renting apartments to non-Jews, since that really is racism. Toward Arabs, this is not racism in any way, although I also oppose sweeping statements about them.
——————————————————————————————
Questioner:
You'd be surprised, but I did check! The regional council doesn't have a pool! He was speaking in general. I understand that you are a man of logic. My logic is much more primitive. When people speak about some ethnic collective, I replace it with the word "Jew." For our example: "I won't let Jews into the pool because they make it dirty…"
——————————————————————————————
Rabbi:
1. Indeed, primitive logic. Formal logic operates on structures and ignores content; that is, it makes no difference whether it says Jew or Indonesian, so long as the translation is done consistently. In addition, this is also the correct moral analysis, since we are against racism. Therefore even if it had said Jew, I would write exactly the same things (under the same factual assumptions, of course—that the Jews are making it dirty). I am not a racist, and I also try not to deviate from logic because of emotions. Contrary to common feelings (!), such deviations do not make someone more moral.
2. You mean that their regional council has no pool and they go to the other council's pool? If so, then that is exactly what I wrote.