Israeli Democracy Will Not Survive Without Jewish-Arab Partnership
On Saturday night, as I walked through the streets of Tel Aviv, along with tens of thousands of Jewish and non-Jewish protesters, there was a feeling in the air that something had changed. Instead of separate protests or struggles, we witnessed a united civil outburst of Arab and Jewish citizens, a connection we had long awaited. Since the first demonstrations against Netanyahu’s government corruption took place on Balfour Street, there has been a sense that without this Jewish-Arab partnership, real change is impossible.
On Saturday night, we finally saw real progress that surpassed what we saw at the anti-judicial coup demonstrations on Kaplan Street, where many of the Jewish protestors did not understand that by concerning ourselves with democracy for Jews, we were excluding Arabs. Jewish-Arab partnership was absent from the demonstrations in Hostage Square because we avoided addressing the intense pain of Gazans alongside our own.
Important civil processes are progressing slowly, but sometimes, it is precisely the slow maturation that leads to a breakthrough at the right moment – this is what happened in Tel Aviv. The demonstration was a protest against violence and a call for justice and personal safety in Arab society, and it was also a strong civil statement: Israeli democracy requires Jewish-Arab partnership, and the country’s future requires a joint struggle.
We can fight and overcome violence in Arab society, but the process requires a caring government. The previous government of change has proven that when there is will and care, there are results. The current government, on the other hand, seems to accept violence and killing as routine, perhaps even incentivizing it – deepening fear, division, and hatred within Israeli society.
None of the protesters on the streets of Tel Aviv deluded themselves that Netanyahu’s government would listen to the outcry that came from the demonstration. This is a government that has repeatedly proven that it does not count those who oppose their politics. This government does not count the residents of the Gaza envelope, the residents of Kiryat Shmona – and certainly not Arab citizens of Israel. The demonstration’s importance is not the government’s response but the hope it created. There is hope for a civil and political partnership that has the potential to ultimately replace the Netanyahu government and establish a better, more worthy, and more responsible government.
The more public and widespread the Jewish-Arab civil partnership becomes, the more leaders of the liberal camp will understand that they have no choice but to join. Instead of succumbing to incitement and division, they should lead the public to a simple understanding: the enemies of Israeli democracy are not Arab citizens and their elected officials, but those who are deliberately working to dismantle society, sow division, and instill fear for a single purpose: political survival.
Those people are plotting to turn the Jewish-Arab partnership into a platform for incitement and division against the liberal camp. The partnership on full display at the massive demonstration in Tel Aviv will help prevent the liberal camp’s leaders from participating in the delegitimization of the Arab public and its elected officials and join the masses of marchers to transform the civil Jewish-Arab partnership into a political one as well.
Our duty as citizens is to ensure that this demonstration does not remain a single light in the darkness. We should no longer view the demonstration as a conflict between Jewish and Arab societies, but rather as a unified Israeli society. Not separate struggles, but a joint struggle – for democracy, the rule of law, equality, and above all, for our personal safety and the lives of our children.
The expectation that Israeli Arabs will be Zionists and sign onto our narrative is misguided and absurd. But Arabs are worthy partners in the fight against the greatest threats to the Zionist vision as it is articulated in the Declaration of Independence, namely the occupation and Jewish supremacy. Anyone who accepts the principle that there are two peoples between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea who are entitled to self-determination is a partner.
If we prove through our actions that the Jewish and Arab public are working together in civil action, politicians will have no choice but to join. The day this happens, there will be no one left who can stop the ouster of this evil government.