Only Together — Arabs and Jews — Can We Be the Change We Want to See

At a recent visit with a Palestinian-Israeli friend in the Lower Galilee, where I live, I invited her to come to a local conference organized by Standing Together, a joint Jewish-Arab Israeli national activist movement working for peace, equality, and justice, in which I have been involved for the past several years. My local chapter has about 700 members, a number which is almost double what it was a year ago, before the war. There are seven more chapters throughout the country.

The movement was founded (in 2015) on this main principle: we can only create a better future for all people of both nations if we work together on equal footing, beginning here in Israel where Palestinian and Jewish Israeli citizens live side by side.

Athough many other joint movements have seriously struggled or even fallen apart during the course of this war, ours has grown and flourished. People are looking for this connection, especially now, and a chance to struggle together to change our reality. It feels like the only hope.

As part of one of the breakaway sessions planned for the Standing Together conference, I was going to be facilitating a discussion about a government operation, carried out by the police under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, to scare Israeli Arabs into silence and inaction over unrealized fears that Hamas would try to incite them to riot.

My friend knew what I was referring to. All Palestinian Israelis are well aware of the many stories of Israeli Arabs being arrested or forced to leave their jobs because of social media posts, or even just speaking in public, expressing sympathy for Gazans or daring to outright condemn IDF actions in Gaza. She said she thought the cause important, but she did not want to come.

“I was an activist most of my life, since I was a student,” she said. “But I see no hope now for change, not with this government. And now this war, and the silencing, and the terrible organized crime in our community. I’ve decided to focus on my career and my family. I’ve given up.”

I asked her daughter, visiting from her studies abroad, about her future. She had always assumed she would return for good, but now she is looking at other options. 

Life for Palestinian Israelis has always been complicated and challenging. Living in a country that is in a bloody conflict with your nation is confusing in peaceful times and excruciating in wartime. Especially when the government in power is so antagonistic towards its Palestinian population. So I sympathized with both my friend and her daughter, but I was also disappointed. How can we defeat this far-right government and the trend towards extreme Jewish nationalism in this country, without our Arab citizens on board?

Even before this war, the Arab-Israeli community was in crisis, best shown by the epidemic level of murders due to organized crime in Arab villages, cities, and Arab neighborhoods in mixed cities. Ben-Gvir has done nothing to combat this crisis – which is not surprising, considering his ideal vision for this country as one devoid of Arabs.

Earlier this week, Ben-Gvir threatened to revoke the citizenship of Bedouin Israelis from the town of Rahat (including the mayor!) who participated in the humanitarian aid drive for Gazan civilians held there on Sunday. This was part of a larger two-week initiative organized by Standing Together. “We should throw them out of the State of Israel,” he said.

Standing Together’s original plan was to hire one big truck to go from one Arab town to another, across the country, collecting donations of supplies, which would then be transported across the border and distributed to Gazan civilians through an international organization. But already at the first site, the northern Arab city of Sachnin, it became clear more than one truck would be needed. At that first site alone, volunteers filled three trucks.

Photo Credit: Haviva Ner-David

I volunteered at the fourth collection site, at another northern Arab city, Umm El Fahem; there we collected 29 trucks-full! It was amazing to see the line of cars, extending outside the city, all with supplies their drivers had purchased out of pocket – many who then joined in the unpacking and loading. It was hard to see through my tears of gratitude as I sorted cans of tuna fish and baby formula, bags of legumes and flour, and packages of diapers and menstrual pads. 

Photo credit: Haviva Ner-David

And what made it more moving, was that we were doing this together – Palestinian and Jewish Israelis of all ages (including children, elderly, and physically challenged), even amidst a war between our nations. This was the first time I had experienced this kind of mass partnership initiative since before the war, and it was certainly the first time since then I witnessed Arab Israelis coming out in such large numbers for a cause.

Photo credit: Haviva Ner-David

Before the war, Standing Together had organized the first massive demonstration against the government in Tel Aviv, back in January of 2023, drawing thousands of Arabs and Jews. I was exhilarated and hopeful to see such a large turn-out, feeling the power of  joining together to fight what we knew even back then would be a catastrophic government.

A week later, the Jewish-led anti-government demonstrations began, which alienated many potential Palestinian Israeli partners because of the symbol chosen – the very Jewish Israeli flag. Nevertheless, over the months before Oct. 7, increasingly more Arab speakers were featured at the many weekly demonstrations across the country, and there was a move towards being more inclusive. A wider variety of protesters began showing up, including Standing Together groups, with our signature purple signs, messages written in Arabic and Hebrew against the occupation and the Nation-State Law, and calling for a true democracy for all.

In August 2023 a huge “March of the Dead” — organized and initiated by Arab-run organizations and partnership organizations like Standing Together — took place in Tel Aviv, to raise awareness about organized crime, and demand action. That was another high point for our movement, another ray of light in the darkness. I knew the hope for this country and region lay there –  in Palestinians and Jews marching side by side, praying, as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said, with our feet.

Marching with caskets in Tel Aviv. (Courtesy, the Bukra website).

There was a hiatus in the big protests after Oct. 7, but they are going strong again, even if not in as large numbers as the peak we reached before the war. Despair and confusion has set in among many of the less hard-core activists, but especially among the Arab population. Since the war started, most Palestinian Israelis are afraid to speak out, or feel paralyzed by despair — like my friend, the former student activist. 

While I have been to various small Arab-led protests after October 7th, the only one where I saw thousands of Palestinian Israelis was the “March of Return” (a Palestinian nationalist march held once a year to commemorate the Nakba, their name for the “catastrophe” of Israel’s successful war for independence), although that is less of a demonstration and more of a yearly solidarity march, somewhat like the Israeli Day Parade in Manhattan.

But if one adds up how many came to the eight official (and additional pop-up) sites during Standing Together’s humanitarian aid collection campaign, the number would be more like tens of thousands – if not more. And an amazing over 300 trucks were filled with supplies by the end of the two weeks, which were extended a few more days to include a couple more sites. This is a stunning number, over 300 times the number the organizers had anticipated.

How to explain this extremely enthusiastic response to Standing Together’s call? 

Giving to Gazans is an act of charity, but also of resistance – a way of protesting the ongoing war and methods being used by the IDF and Hamas, where it is the common people who are paying the price. It is a safer way to protest (as long as Ben-Gvir does not act on his threats to expel participants) — one that does not require facing police or risking being arrested and blacklisted, which is a justified fear in this political climate, especially among the Arab population.

Plus, this type of resistance is not only about criticizing; it is about creating an alternate reality — a more humanist, non-violent, positive, and cooperative one. People were ordering pizzas and sandwiches and handing out the food to everyone, no matter their mother tongue, or religious or cultural backgrounds. The positive energy of working together for a common cause, is life- and humanity-affirming. 

Some Palestinian Israeli volunteers, new to Standing Together, said this was the first time they had seen Jewish sympathy for Palestinian suffering. To encourage this crucial 20% of the Israeli population to come out and protest – and hopefully one day soon, vote in early elections – requires listening to their needs, supporting their causes, being mindful of their sensitivities, and showing we Jews have their backs. 

I wish my friend had come with me to volunteer. I wish she had stepped out of her comfort zone and back into her power. I wish she could believe once again in humanity and our ability to create the change we want to see in this country and on this land from the river to sea. 

Too many people here – Arabs and Jews — are too despairing to stand up and demand change. But change will certainly not happen if we don’t stand up for it. And if we stand together, the chances are so much greater that it will.

A shorter version of this piece was published first by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. And an earlier version here on my blog.