Israel not racist but....

The BBC seems to be belatedly waking up to the racist nature of the zionist project and the State of Israel. It's a mildly worded article on the website but the colonial settler/apartheid/segregationist nature of the state is almost plain to see.

Ron Shani, the head of the Regional Council, insists there is no discrimination here.

"Zionism is not racism. Not for me. Not for most people who live in Israel. Northern Israel is Arab, it's Jewish, it's Druze. We have to value and admire each other.

"We have a few Bedouin villages in my council. And it's not true that Israeli Arabs are barred from our Zionist Jewish villages - as long as they understand and accept this is a village under the Jewish Israeli ethos.

"Of course I came to live in the north with Zionist ideals in mind but Misgav villages were formed on government-owned land. No confiscation was done from Arab-owned land."

But a lot of Arab land was turned into Israeli state property in the years following Israel's independence.

The majority of Arab land expropriated was labelled "deserted property" by Israel's authorities before its acquisition by the state.

In common with most of the mainstream media, the BBC has studiously avoided exposing Israel's racist state structure. This article, whilst it allows for a bit of typical deviousness by Israeli spokespersons, it is actually a bit of a step in the right direction.