Megaphones and Deafening Silence
Spreading Fear of Arabs Among Jews in the Post-Election Milieu
Enraged. Back at my trusty keyboard.
If you cancel the Arab vote as Likud members would, then it’s not absurd to relate to the election results as a victory for their bloc. That, as Bibi prepares to refuse to recognize the results.
Politicians speak of Jewish and Zionist parties as one, compelling interviewers to remind them that Haredi parties are proudly, self-declared, not Zionist. The bloc of politicians from the outgoing government aren’t baffled. They explain: Haredim are Jewish, thus entitled to a say in what happens in Israel, unlike 19 MK-elects from the two Arab parties.
Megaphones of the current government talking points define the 19 MKs-elect as Hamas-supporters, identifying as Palestinians, refusing to recognize Jews’ rights to live in Israel. They overlook explicit statements to the contrary. Exclusively presenting statements by Arab politicians expressing empathy for Gazans, or tolerance for aspects of the Hamas mission paints a deceptively incomplete picture. Effective for cultivating fear.
Fears trickle into society. Rational refutation of many Jews’ fears of all Arabs becomes almost impossible.
At least, politicians accusing all Arab MKs-elect of identifying with Hamas, face interviewers asking if that holds for the citizens of the State of Israel who voted for them. Responses persist with the message that the Arab population which voted for them is not entitled to being part of the political mechanisms determining life in Israel. That’s for Jews. Enraged!
It doesn’t mean Bibi isn’t aggressively courting MK Mansour Abbas in the attempt by the former to ensure he will form a coalition and remain prime minister.
MK Liberman emphatically reiterates he will not be part of a government with Arab parties, nor of a minority government – the path to another round of elections, and a true Likud victory.
Trying to avoid speculations about the next coalition. In the weeks ahead, it will be determined. Losing my sanity following the process.
Likud politicians and those further right make enraging statements. Eisenkot, Bennett, Lapid, Golan, why can’t you make a resonating statement attempting to dispel fears that the far-right spreads?
At least Golan following the election results made a statement that every Arab vote carries the same weight as any Jewish vote. But why aren’t these politicians reminding the Jewish Israeli public: On October 7, Arab citizens of Israel were taken hostage together with Jewish citizens. When Hamas massacred Israelis that day, they included Palestinian citizens of Israel. On that day, Palestinian citizens of Israel risked their lives to save lives of Jewish Israelis. The silence is deafening.
