It was once a commonplace here that every inflammatory speech by an Arab leader was more useful to Israel than an additional battalion of tanks in Sinai. Today, that old saw can be wisdom can be revised to say that every law that Justice Minister Yariv Levin passes as part of the judicial upheaval is more devastating than an Iranian missile attack. As long as the legislative drive proceeds unhindered, Israel goes further down the path of self-destruction. The country is under a multipronged attack, not from Iran or an Arab state, but from dark forces right here at home.
Every cabinet minister is armed with a personal pickax and has already begun the work of demolition. The day is short, and the work is great. Every government agency is in the line of fire: Senior officials are being dismissed in favor of cronies; gatekeepers face bullying and inappropriate challenges to their authority. The attack on public education is also in full swing, and academia is being rendered impotent, shamelessly. And let’s not forget the upgrading of the attacks on Arab citizens and on Palestinians in the occupied territories.
A reader might accuse me of self-righteousness. Why should I concern myself with a state that discriminates against me? After all, I was not the one who let the fox (that is, the ultranationalist, messianic extremism, the occupation and the discrimination) into their henhouse. (In fact, the henhouse belongs to every one of us.) To anyone who asks I say that I do worry about this country. Yes, it oppresses me, but I have also seen the bright side, the result of the hard work of good people, wonderful Jews and Arabs alike. Yes, there are many Jews who are on the side of the good.
An ancient Arabic proverb says that to understand a people, you must live among them for 40 days.” All the more so for us, Arabs and Jews, who have lived with each other for 75 years. Like it or not, the destinies of our two peoples are intertwined. In his recent (Arabic-language) book “Citizenship and Patriotism,” Israeli lawmaker Ayman Odeh recalls an anecdote related by Emil Habibi: Once, during a trip abroad, when the late author and Knesset member told his taxi driver he was a Palestinian living in Israel, the driver replied that that was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. It’s true, a Palestinian citizen of Israel is absurdity incarnate. The challenge is turning this absurdity into a program for a shared life based on justice.
We, the Arab citizens of Israel, cannot stand by with our arms folded. We are part of the ship of state that is in the process of sinking. The bitter truth is that we will be the first to pay the price, the first casualties of a collapsing state. With every draconian bill that becomes law, we will be the first to suffer, starting with the elimination of the reasonableness standard and ending with legislation that privileges the Jewish population of the Galilee and Negev.
The Israeli establishment – the leadership of both the right-wing and the center-left – is working to clip the wings of Israel’s Arab citizens. Even many of the moderates believe that the war for the character of the state is a war of the Jews and that Arabs must not participate. This is a fatal error of the moderates. They treat what is happening in the country as an internal Jewish matter, but this war is for all citizens of the state, not just the Jewish ones. It requires a civil approach, not a separatist, nationalist one.
As a force for democracy, Israel’s Arab population has been bruised and beaten in recent years. The strengthening of criminal organizations in the towns and cities has caused great damage to its fighting spirit. The blood being spilled in its streets is the hardest of all. The Arabs are in need of support and solidarity. In every fight for democracy, throughout the history of the state, Arab citizens played an important role. Today, in their hour of need, democrats must reach out to them. No less, it will benefit the critical struggle for democracy.