There is a new video that has gone viral in Israel (seen already by 1.5 million Israelis), which lauds Arab doctors and nurses as heroes of the coronavirus crisis in Israel, with its creators hoping it will help bring about some change in the country’s politics.
And what is the change?
“We wanted to say that if you trust an Arab person with your life in the hospital, you should be prepared to trust them to be part of your government,” Shir Nosatzki, the activist behind the clip, told The Times of Israel.
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It is a protest against the political climate in which Israel’s mainstream Jewish politicians will not enter coalitions, or informal political alliances, with the Arab-dominated Joint List. “We want an Arab party to be able to be legitimate players in a government, and that the atmosphere on this issue changes so that it is, at least, an option,” said Nosatzki, director of a two-year-old pro-coexistence group called, “Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?”
Arabs working in all areas of Israeli life? Check
Arabs represented in the Knesset? Check
The protest is towards certain attitudes towards Arab-Israelis in mainstream Israeli society and not entrenched laws discriminating against them. Not one of these protesters is claiming Israel is an “apartheid” state as the haters – none of whom actually live here – claim. These protesters desire to feel like a more integral part of Israeli society and do not want to supplant Israel with a palestinian state. And this has been reflected by various polls over the years.
I should point out that the reticence of many Israelis to have the Arab Joint List as part of the Israeli government is not emanating from feelings of superiority or wanton discrimination, but a product of highly troubling statements and actions from Arab Joint List members.
Maurice Hirsch, head of legal strategies for Palestinian Media Watch, told The Jerusalem Post while he “cannot say conclusively that members of the list are terrorists, what is clear is that the Joint Arab List’s party manifesto contains multiple statements and goals that support Palestinian terrorism.”
Joint Arab List’s party manifesto contains multiple statements and goals that support Palestinian terrorism.”
For example, he said, the manifesto says: “The Joint Arab List aspires to free all the political prisoners.”
“The term ‘political prisoners’ is a well-know euphemism for all of the imprisoned Palestinian terrorists, including mass murderers like Abdallah Barghouti, murderer of 67; and Abbas A-Sayed, the terrorist mastermind behind the Park Hotel massacre of 29 people,” Hirsch said.
“The manifesto also promotes Israel giving away Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to the terrorism-supporting Palestinian Authority and the Golan Heights to [Syrian President] Bashar Assad and his chemical-weapons arsenal,” he said, referring to the part of the manifesto that reads: “The Joint Arab List will work to abolish the laws annexing Jerusalem and the Golan [Heights] and laws that contradict the rights of the Palestinian refugees,” among other sections.
Most vocal in his support of terrorism is MK Ahmad Tibi, who has praised well-known terrorist Marwan Barghouti, Hirsch said.
“Tibi even went as far as saying that Hamas firing missiles at Israel’s civilian population is not only ‘possible and allowed,’ but that it is ‘one of the rights of a nation under occupation in the same way that Hezbollah operated and triumphed in its resistance,’” he said.
By the way, there are and have been Arab-Israelis in some of the other political parties, even in the ruling Likud party and those to the right of it!
And let’s not forget the creator of this campaign is…a Jewish Israeli.
