Trump is no more racist than mainstream Israeli policy

[Little Tich]

84. I think Israel should be judged by its most discriminatory laws, or perhaps the sum of them.

It's not useful to bring up the least discriminatory law on the Adalah list and refuting its presence on that list. Either way, I prefer to use the American legal system as a comparison, and if a law would be considered discriminatory in the US, it should be considered iscriminatory in Israel too. Not a single one of those laws on the Adalah list would be OK in the US.

For example, the laws as described in the MW article just wouldn't be possible to pass in the US:

1. 1950 law about confiscation of Absentee Landlord Property. This law defines persons who were expelled, fled, or who left the country after November 29, 1947 as “absentee.” Property belonging to “absentees” was placed under the control of the State of Israel with the Custodian for Absentees’ Property. The Absentee Property Law was the main legal instrument used by Israel to take possession of the land belonging to the internal and external Palestinian refugees, and Muslim Waqf properties across the state. This law continues to be used to this day by quasi-governmental agencies in Israel to take over Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem, for example.

2. 1950 Law of Return. This allows every Jewish person to immigrate to Israel and this extends to the children and grandchildren of Jews, as well as their spouses, and the spouses of their children and grandchildren. The flip side of this is that the rights of Palestinians and others to enter the state and become citizens, even if they were born in the area that is now the State of Israel, are extremely restrictive. This discrimination against the non-Jewish minority has been periodically reinforced. For example, the ban on family unification law of 2003 prohibits citizens of Israel from reuniting with Palestinian spouses living in the West Bank or Gaza.

3. In 1952 the state authorized the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency, and other Zionist bodies founded at the turn of the 20th century to function in Israel as quasi-governmental entities in order to further advance the goals of the Zionist movement, to the detriment of minorities.

4. The Land Acquisition Law of 1953 transferred the land of 349 Arab towns and villages—approximately 1.2 million dunams in all (~468 square miles)—to the state to be used preferentially for the Jewish majority.

5. In 1953, the Knesset bestowed governmental authorities on the Jewish National Fund (JNF or Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael) to purchase land for exclusively Jewish use. The state granted financial advantages, including tax relief to facilitate such purchases.

6. In 1960, the state passed a law which stipulates that the ownership of “Israel lands”—namely the 93% of land under the control of the state, the Jewish National Fund, and the Development Authority—cannot be transferred in any manner.

Read more: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/06/database-discriminatory-israel

These are some of the most important laws that make Israel into a bottom-rung racist democracy. Thye're old, but they're still in effect and consist the cornerstone of Israel's racist policies. The current trend in Israel is to strenghten the discriminatory practices against non-Jewish Israelis, and I personally think the coming of the Israeli Apartheid state is just a matter of time.

BTW, I've read the paper you refer to before. An ethnic democracy like Israel is a step backwards, away from democracy, as ethnicity decides your individual democratic rights. Jewish and Democratic are two mutually exclusive values, and the strenghtening of one weakens the other. While I agree with the conclusion that an "ethnic democracy" like Israel is viable, I personally can't see why racism is a good thing. The paper even gives voice to my own misgivings:

Nevertheless, Arab civil liberties are not adequately protected in Israel for four reasons. First and foremost, in the absence of a constitution or a bill of rights with a superior standing over other laws, Arabs lack an independent legal base to fight unfair treatment. Second, so long as Israel has not reached a comprehensive peace settlement with the Arab world, it is legally in a permanent state of emergency, and the Emergency Regulations are still in effect. Since the Arabs are officially considered a security risk, these regulations operate mostly against them. Third, the present implementation of the Jewish-Zionist character of the state contains certain discriminations against Arabs. Finally, Jewish public opinion not only condones constraints imposed on Arabs, but also endorses preferential treatment of Jews. Each one of these factors, let alone the special effect of their combination, is sufficient to downgrade Arabs to a status of second-class citizens.

(Sammy Smooha, Ethnic Democracy: Israel as an Archetype. Israel Studies, Wolume 2, Number 2, p216)
Read more: http://img2.timg.co.il/communafiles/32398285.pdf