Acre Yeshiva head warns of larger Arab problem

By MATTHEW WAGNER
The Acre rioting is not an isolated phenomenon, but rather part of a much larger problem with Israeli Arabs that will have to be dealt with or else it will blow up in our faces, Rabbi Yosef Stern, head of the hesder yeshiva in Acre, told The Jerusalem Post this week "Acre is a national test of how we as Jews deal with the threat posed by the radicalization and Islamization of Israeli Arabs," said Stern in a telephone interview with the Post. "What happened here in the past few days is not restricted to Acre. Similar trends are playing out in Karmiel, lower Haifa, Jaffa, Lod and the Galilee," he said. "Demographically, the Arabs present a real threat. I call on Jewish families to move to Acre and to other towns in an attempt to strengthen the Jewish presence. If we don't do something, within 10 years we will be facing a major demographic problem." Stern said that in Acre there was an ongoing struggle between Arabs and Jews for control over the city's identity. He added that the fight for Jewish identity within the Green Line was just as urgent if not more so than the struggle in Judea and Samaria. Stern rejected the option of dialogue between Arabs and Jews. "We want to live in peace and mutual respect with the local Arabs. But in all the time we have been here, there has never been serious dialogue because there is no basis for dialogue." The Spirit of the North [Ruach Tzfonit] Yeshiva, which today has 170 students, was established four years ago in response to a sharp drop in the Jewish population in Acre's Wolfson neighborhood. On its Web site, the yeshiva heads describe the process. "Up until four years ago, it looked like Israel would lose a city for the first time in history… Slowly, Jews began to leave the neighborhood, and Arabs began to move in. From a luxurious Jewish neighborhood it has turned into a decrepit Arab neighborhood…" According to the Web site, the local synagogue emptied out and an attempt was made to turn it into a mosque. The yeshiva was founded to counter this trend. The latest rioting is the most extreme example of Arab-Jewish tensions in the city. However, it is not an isolated incident. In October 2006, Jews who were dancing with Torah scrolls on Simchat Torah clashed with local Arabs. Afterwards, Stern called on Jews, who make up a majority of Acre's population, to boycott Arab businesses.