Time for Real Change: Trust Our Arab Citizens More

Despite the media’s insistence on showing the Netanyahu coalition’s number at 53 and the so-called “change” group at 48 with the Arab parties at 19, the simple truth is the parties elected by Israeli citizens in opposition to Netanyahu and his October 7 coalition are 67.  As Yair Golan, the head of the Democratim succinctly stated, we must not repeat the: “racist distinction between Jewish votes and

Arab votes. The vote of an Israeli citizen casting a ballot in Tira is worth exactly the same as the vote of an Israeli citizen casting a ballot in Givat Shmuel. Not less. Not “roughly” the same. Exactly the same. Anyone who attempts to erase the votes of Arab citizens is surrendering to Netanyahu and giving up on Israel.”

These votes all have the same legitimacy. The opponents to a continuation of Netanyahu’s prime ministry and his government of broken promises and its evasion of responsibility have won. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Forget the fake news and mimicry by the Likud of Trump’s tactics in 2020 and possibly soon in 2026 including the undocumented claim that they have hard evidence of illegalities in the vote.  Trump and his Republicans have and continue to use lies to prop themselves up politically and so too do Netanyahu and his Likud.  Whatever Qatar and its money may have done in encouraging a strong turnout of voters, it’s monetary contributions to Bibi and his government to finance his political plans constitutes a bribe of extraordinary proportions and hovers close to treason that a state inquiry will surely document and should have long disqualified his candidacy. As are Trump’s claims, so too Netanyahu’s are bogus.

What is undeniably true is that the turnout in this election was just under 78% of eligible voters, 5,716,673 votes, the highest turnout in 27 years, and among the highest in comparative perspective. The last election, which resulted in the catastrophic outgoing government was a bit over 70% and 4,794,593 votes. And the Arab sector’s participation surged, essentially matching other Israeli voters.  (Just for comparison, the last two US elections came in at 46% and 64%.) If this data proves anything, it shows that the sentiments of the electorate to reject a return to power by Netanyahu and his partners is a solid expression of the majority.

More than that it demonstrates a new and unprecedented desire by Israeli Arabs to be part of the peaceful political process, a belief that they can be engaged in this society in all sectors, including as voters and make a difference.  To those who foolishly claim they cannot be trusted, let them understand that Israelis already trust them to fill their prescriptions, minister to them as doctors and nurses: Arab citizens make up roughly 40% of the total healthcare workforce when including auxiliary staff and 49% of all practicing pharmacists in Israel are Arab. In recent academic years, Arab students accounted for nearly 70% of all first-degree pharmacy enrollments in Israeli universities and currently, approximately half of all newly licensed medical school graduates in Israel come from the Arab community. They are among our trusted lawyers and most competent engineers; and who in Israel has not used Arab contractors and builders?

A massive percentage of Israel’s commercial truck drivers, public bus drivers (for major companies like Egged and Dan), and delivery fleet couriers are Arab. In Jerusalem, local consumer registries suggest that 70% to 80% of special taxi drivers in the Jerusalem municipal area are Arab (mostly residents of East Jerusalem. And on Shabbat, the proportion of active taxi drivers shifts to nearly 100% Arab in highly traditional or mixed cities like Jerusalem, Haifa, and parts of Tel Aviv. And of course they know their way around Jewish neighborhoods very well, and Israelis of all kinds trust them to take them to their destinations.

If Israelis of all sorts trust them with our health, with our bodies, with getting us to where we want to go, with our legal defense, with building our homes and more, how can anyone not trust them to be part of the government, especially now that they have shown their trust that our elections are fair and they want to be part of it? Indeed, in some places the Arab election participation exceeded the rate of voter turnout in the rest of the country, with Sakhnin at nearly 87%, the highest in Israel.

The Israeli Arab voters are not interested in overthrowing the state of Israel; they want to be part of it and share in the responsibility of governing it.  They want to see to it that our police and national security apparatus protect them too, and that the State can control the crime and chaos that goes on both in the Israeli Arab towns and in the violent Jewish settler movement.  The fact that the thug who has been national security minister for the last four years and the government of which he has been a part have abandoned their responsibility to bring safety to the Arab majority towns and cities is scandalous and immoral, as has been their refusal to curb West Bank settler violence.  Ben Gvir more than anyone – including Qatar – is responsible for bringing the Arabs to the polls.

He along with Smotrich, both of whom spew hatred for people who do not share their racist ideology, along with the rest of the Netanyahu October 7 government have made Israel, once a beacon of democracy and opportunity in the world, into a pariah state.  That government’s policies and actions have alienated nearly all our allies in democracies throughout the world.  What better way for Israel to demonstrate that we are not racists or enemies of the Palestinian population than by including Israeli Arabs in the government of change?

I urge the rest of the parties who want change to make it.  Change means embracing the Arab voters in this country. It means putting into practice a central element of Israel’s declaration of independence: to “ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex.”

While haredim blocked the roads and engaged in violence rather than cast their lot with peaceful protest and use their votes to support the political process, the Israeli Arabs used  their voices for law and order joining in a desire to affect change and an improved life through the ballot box.

That is the message Israel and those who want a new day here must send to its citizens and to the world.  Only then can we once again aspire to be a ‘light unto the nations.”