Qāribāni wa-mirwāḥiyyatun

Do you know the parable about the two boats and a helicopter? I remember becoming powerfully aware of it in 2005 right after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and environs. The story was everywhere online.

A massive hurricane rages. An old man alone at home climbs to the second floor, then the attic, and finally the roof. When neighbors come by with a rowboat, he refuses to come down, saying that he is a man of faith and God will save him. Then come more neighbors with a rescue team in a motorboat and he again declines to budge. Later a rescue crew arrives by helicopter and he again refuses, telling them that God will take care of him. After he drowns and gets to heaven, he questions why God did not come to save a believing Christian and regular churchgoer like him. God remonstrates: What do you mean? I sent you two boats and a helicopter and you refused them all.

Time for a leap of faith in a new direction

In Arabic, “two boats and a helicopter” translates as qāribāni wa-mirwāḥiyyatun.

In the newly elected parliament in Israel today, the Arab political parties – which also, we should note, include a couple of Jewish legislators – have earned 17 seats (of 120) and are uniquely positioned to help save the day for a fast pivot towards real equality, democracy, and mutual respect. They can offer the center-left opposition to Netanyahu and his Kahanist allies a governing partnership capable of steering the country toward a vibrant new future featuring pragmatic domestic cooperation and attractive regional alliances. The Arab League is on record as favoring it since 2002. So, what’s the problem?

The problem is a long history (with one recent exception in 2021), on the part of Israel’s Jewish majority, of refusing to legitimize the civic power of Palestinian citizens of Israel – about a fifth of the population – by actually including their elected legislators in a governing coalition.

Perhaps it is not surprising – given the ongoing conflict – that an unceasing campaign of fear and incitement against Arab citizens in Israel is longstanding. In recent years, however, it has been turbo-charged by the Netanyahu camp and his allies for sheer political expediency: fresh red meat for the base. And the tactic worked. Too many Israeli Jews today, with the October 7 trauma uppermost in their minds, are as afraid of their Palestinian Arab fellow citizens as they are of the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and beyond.

While nearly all the Palestinian citizens of Israel individually and collectively are open to some form of a civic fellowship of equals, albeit with very serious policy differences, the Jewish Israeli response in the best case is usually a stanch No, thank you. The centuries-long history of Jewish isolation and ostracization in the wider world is a powerful incentive for Jewish Israelis to trust nobody but themselves. And maybe God.

Don’t be the old guy on the roof

It’s the parable of the two boats and a helicopter playing out before our very eyes, and not for the first time. But this may be the last chance to change the ending. Unless Israeli Jews, their civic leadership, and their cheerleaders abroad wake up right now, once and for all, and make up their minds to take a leap of faith here, they are going to kill what remains of the hope of a flourishing shared future for all Israelis and for the region.

The Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel and their elected legislative representatives hold the key to Israel’s survival as anything remotely resembling a modern democracy. They have offered two boats and a helicopter – and more. Mashallah! As for what comes next: Israeli Jews, it is in your hands. The helicopter is hovering overhead today, but not forever. Don’t be the old guy on the roof.