Distance can be a benefit on occasion, even though you are open to the accusation of being too distant and detached to understand or have any credible insight. Observing Israel’s election campaign from a distance and having no allegiance to any specific political party can, however, be advantageous.
Of course, the absence of allegiance does not mean that, if you are concerned about Israel’s future and the well-being of all its people, you lack opinions and hopes for the election’s outcome, but this article is not about that. It is about Israeli democracy.
In the midst of adversity and international criticism, Israeli governments and politicians have, for many years, emphasized that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. So have Israel’s supporters when publicly battling on the international stage, broadcast and social media those dedicated to Israel’s destruction.
Regular elections in Israel are contrasted with the absence of Palestinian elections since 2006 for the Palestinian Authority and for the presidency since 2005.
Canceled PA elections illustrate need for Palestinian institutional reforms
Two weeks ago, PA President Mahmoud Abbas yet again canceled elections scheduled for November 28, pushing them off to next September. His four-year term, now extended to 22 years, is one of the issues that illustrate Palestinian institutional reforms that need to be implemented.
The response to Israel’s adversaries falsely depicting Israel as an apartheid state is to assert that 21% of Israelis are Arabs and to correctly detail the extent to which Israel’s Arab citizens are integrated into Israeli society and the many important positions they hold.
The fact that members of Israel’s Arab community and their political parties participate in Israeli elections and are members of the Knesset is a clear example to contrast the Israeli state with the despotic monarchies and dictatorships that govern other states in the region.
Twenty-one percent of voters in a hotly contested election campaign whose outcome is uncertain can play a pivotal role in the formation of Israel’s next government. Yet most of Israel’s main political parties do nothing to court their vote. The rhetoric of many simply alienates Arab voters.
In past elections, some Israeli political parties have chosen to demonize Israel’s Arab electorate to sow fear and generate political support. For most of that electorate, the Arab parties have been the only real choice and, save for Naftali Bennett’s short-lived government, have been excluded from any role in Israeli governance.
As a consequence of the barbaric murders and atrocities of October 7 and everything that followed, political polls have shown that a majority of Jewish Israelis oppose any Arab party participating in Israel’s next government or the next Israeli government being dependent on any Arab party support.
They include Ra’am (United Arab List), which, for the first time, has included a prominent Jewish Israeli on its list, Yoav Segalovitz, a former Yesh Atid Knesset member.
He was deputy national security minister in the Bennett government and a former major-general in Israel’s police, where he headed Lahav 433, the elite national crime anti-corruption investigation unit, and was chief of the police’s intelligence and investigation department.
Voters' verdict may force a change in perspective
The primary parties whose leaders have a credible chance of becoming prime minister, forming the next government, and electing the largest number of Knesset party members all say they will not include an Arab party in government or form a government dependent on an Arab party.
There is a fear that should there be any doubt on this issue, electorate support will plummet.
The fear factor, readily exploited by various government ministers and party candidates in the current election, both undermines Israeli democracy and the value of votes cast by Israel’s Arab community. It is also setting the scene for a tied election and further political instability should all who have adopted that stance adhere to it post-election.
The perspective promoted by some Israeli politicians is that Israel’s Arab community is a potentially subversive terrorist minority within the state, a minority whose polling stations need to be more carefully observed than others on polling day. Why? Because that creates fear, and they hope it increases support for those who promote it.
They also hope for a prevalence of unnecessarily intimidating oversight that discourages Arab voters from supporting Arab parties. The same politicians in between elections use Arab Knesset members as props when acclaiming Israeli democracy.
You cannot have it both ways. Embrace the existence of Arab Knesset members as illustrative of Israeli democracy and also marginalize Israel’s Arab voters and do everything possible to discourage them from voting.
Israel’s Arab community is not a 21% subversive minority within Israel’s midst. They have not taken to the streets since October 7 and acted out like the thugs, rioters, ideologues, and antisemites in France and Italy.
Their misrepresentation as such by those in government or by some aspiring to government, together with the deprecating rhetoric to which they are subjected, is a stain on Israeli democracy and is used by Israel’s adversaries as proof of their caricature, hostile depiction of Israel.
The final days of campaigning are likely to be contaminated by such rhetoric, as well as polling day. In addition to the damage it does to Israeli society and the sense of alienation it creates within the Arab community, regard should be had to the additional damage it will inflict on Israel’s already tarnished international reputation.
Parties and party leaders have already detailed which parties they perceive as acceptable partners with which to form the next Israeli government. Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc and the opposition bloc may discover that when the votes are counted, a stable government cannot form without the support of an Arab party.
If Israeli Arabs vote in higher numbers than in recent elections, that may be a certainty.
After the elections, the voters’ verdict may force a change in perspective.
Ministers from an Arab party as part of the next Israeli government would not merely further undermine the apartheid lie and enhance Israeli democratic representation in government but might also bring badly needed new perspectives and insights to government that benefit all Israelis of every background.
The writer is a member of the boards of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations, the Middle East Media Research Institute, the American Jewish International Relations Institute, and chair of Magen David Adom Ireland. He is also a former Irish minister for Justice, Equality & Defense, a former member of the Irish Parliament, and former chair of its Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as of the EU Council of Justice & Home Affairs ministers & Council of Defense Ministers. This article is written in his personal capacity.
Follow us on GoogleSource: The Jerusalem Post · ALAN SHATTER
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