Why many Israeli Arabs are shunning Israel’s protests
By Ben Lynfield
Jan 20, 2023
"One might think that the Israeli Arab segment of Israeli society likely to be first in the line of fire of Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government would be motivated to join the growing opposition movement.
"Yet thus far, Arab Israelis, who make up about a fifth of the population, have largely stayed out of the fray, with only a very small number turning up at the demonstration in Tel Aviv…
"Issawi Frej, former minister of regional cooperation from the left-wing Zionist Meretz party, attended the demonstration but said he understood why the vast majority of Arab citizens ignored it.
"'When you don’t mention equality, don’t expect the Arab public to come. Democracy is not just strengthening the Supreme Court; that’s why the Arab citizen feels he has no place there. For Arabs to come en masse, you have to also talk about that it’s not democratic to rule over another people As long as you define things so narrowly, the Arab public won’t be there.'
"Nadav Lazare of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel stressed that from his movement’s perspective, the struggle is also for the benefit of minorities, adding that Mansour Abbas, head of the Ra’am party that was in the previous coalition, attended the January 14 protest and had called on Arabs to come…
"Abbas, speaking before the demonstration on the Nazareth-based Radio Shams, called on Arab citizens to participate… 'We want to be partners in the protest with democratic tools in accordance with the law and not bring about direct confrontation.'
"Younger activists are also voicing disquiet at the way last Saturday’s protest proceeded. Sally Abed, a leader of Standing Together, a Jewish-Arab group that supports equality and social change that was instrumental in a smaller protest said it was completely different from the massive protest a week later.
"'We had four out of nine speakers who were Palestinian [citizens of Israel] and a Haredi and a transsexual woman…'"
Ben Lynfield covered Israeli and Palestinian politics for The Independent and served as Middle Eastern affairs correspondent at the Jerusalem Post. He has contributed to the Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy and the New Statesman.
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