Why isn't Israel considered an Arab country?

Answer 1

Israel is a country with a Jewish majority and an Arab minority, with full and equal rights for all its citizens.

Israel has three official languages: Hebrew, Arabic and English. The Muslim and Christian churches are supported by the Israeli government, as is the Jewish religion.

In contrast, there are 22 Arab states, and in none of them do the Arabs have the rights and living standards of their brothers in Israel.

Answer 2

I suppose it depends on the definition of arab. If you define it from the most general point of view, meaning anyone who speaks arabic as a primary language then an argument can be made for Israel being an arab country because arabic is an official language of Israel. If defined geographically, Israel could be considered included in the arabian peninsula, but for the most part I would say it is not. From a genetic point of view, Israel is overwhelmingly Jewish which is a semitic group though not arab, making Israel the cousin-to-arab country. If defined by the modern view where arab=muslim or muslim from the middle east (including Iran even though they're really Persian), then Israel as an overwhelmingly Jewish country is most certainly not.
Note: there are arab christians as well as other religious groups...

Answer 3

It's Hebrew. The theory is, that Abraham's son Isaac was father of the Israelites and the Arameans, and his other son Ishmael of the Arabs and six other nations (and perhaps Spaniards too). Thus Arabs and Hebrews are cousins through their grandfather Abraham.

Iran shouldn't be called an Arab nation either, Iranians (Persians) look like Europeans. The same goes for the majority of Iraqis, Lebanese, and a few others who were descended from Romans, Samarians, Indo Europeans, Turks, Macedonians, and others. And northern Africa has a lot of Berbers.

But in Islam, if I understand it correctly, people like to call themselves Arabs even when they are not, because Arabs are related to the great prophet Abraham, and have some special status.

The religious status of the Arabic language has also provoked many middle easterners to want to claim false Arab lineage.

Israelis have no motivation to claim a false Arab lineage. In fact, those Israelis who are not Muslim may wish to deny any Arab lineage that they may have.

Answer 4

davay, most jewish israelis are eastern european, there are many iraqui jews living there, but two thirds of jews in israel are polish, german, etc. Israel is not a Arab country, because the population is not mostly arab, just like america is not a arab country. There are arabs in america, but america is not an arabic country. Why would israel be an Arab country, just because it is near iraq, lebanon,and other arab countrys? I dont understand your question.

Answer 5

The Palestinians are considered Arab because they communicate the language and percentage the life-style. the middle East ( West Asia and North Africa) Iran - commonly Persian Turkey - Turkish, Kurdish Iraq - Arab, Kurdish, Assyrian Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria are considered Arab Egyptians are a mixture of the historic Egyptian peoples and Arab invaders

Answer 6

Because Arabs are a minority (though Arabic is one of the official languages). And I must disagree with a previous answerer -- non-Jews do NOT have full and equal rights here with non-Jews. Israel is by self-definition a "Jewish State" -- I think the status of non-Jews here might be compared to the status of non-whites in the U.S. 50 or 60 years ago.

Answer 7

Because this is a "Travel" category, and there should be no discussion of "country" whatseover, unless you're asking what's the best place in Israel to check out the COUNTRYside.

Answer 8

Because it is a Jewish country and homeland and the population is predominately Jewish (76% Jewish, as of 12/2006) and they speak Hebrew. While there are two official languages, you will find more Hebrew speakers there than anything else.

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

Answer 9

In Short :
Arabs will answer you : Because there is nothing named Israel!
Israelis will answer you : Because there is nothing named Palestine or Arab nation on this land !

and you will get No-Answer . :D

(sory for my eng.)

Answer 10

Because its current population is not mostly Arab