How Donald Trump is driving some Israeli Arabs to vote
| KAFR KARA, Israel
The people of Kafr Kara, an Arab village of about 18,000, are proud of their highly educated populace and quick to share a favorite statistic: They are home to the highest number of doctors per capita in Israel.
That pride in their communal contribution to society is part of why for many, voting in Israel鈥檚 March 2 parliamentary elections is about voting against the negative messaging about them as Arab citizens, and for their place in Israel as equals.
Escaping the rain outside, Monira Falahen, a 29-year-old nurse, has dashed into a neighbor鈥檚 shop to buy dried apricots and almonds for her family. And she wonders aloud if this time the elections will bring a new era 鈥� one that repudiates the racism and delegitimization against Arab citizens fomented by the political right.
Why We Wrote This
What is self-determination? At the community or national level, certainly in the Middle East context, it is often taken to mean political independence. But on an individual level, it can also mean voting in elections.
鈥淚n my opinion everyone needs to vote, because we are all in a situation we don鈥檛 want to be in. It feels very bleak. I hope the election will push Netanyahu out,鈥� says Ms. Falahen, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly suggested the Arab minority poses a threat to Israeli Jews. 鈥淏ut I also want to change the way things are 鈥� to make things better, so there will be true equality between Jews and Arabs.鈥�
Kafr Kara is one of a cluster of villages and towns in an area known as 鈥淭he Triangle,鈥� home to some 300,000 Arab citizens of Israel. In President Donald Trump鈥檚 plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the area was slotted as part of a possible land-swap, to be included in a future Palestinian state.
The proposal has since been disavowed by mainstream politicians, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, but the notion sparked rage and fear. Residents view the idea as an affront to their sense of themselves as citizens of Israel who are proud of their Palestinian heritage. Despite being labeled by some as a fifth column, they see their lives and futures in the state of Israel, where they are increasingly economically and socially integrated.
On Highway 65, the main road that cuts through the verdant valley containing Kafr Kara and other villages, stands a billboard. It features Ayman Odeh and Ahmed Tibi, the leaders of the Joint List, a coalition of Arab parties that joined forces and in the most recent election ranked as the third-largest party in Israel. Flanking them are President Trump and Mr. Netanyahu, but with lines crossing out their faces. In Arabic is written the message: 鈥淵our vote determines who represents you.鈥�
Khaled Msarwe, 62, a retired construction worker, says he will be voting for the Joint List. 鈥淲e feel like we are not wanted here,鈥� he says as he packs up his groceries. This is why, he says, it鈥檚 essential to amplify the Joint List鈥檚 impact with as many votes as possible. 鈥淲e need to give our sector a voice in the Knesset,鈥� he says.
Outside support
The March vote is an unprecedented third round in a year. The previous two ended in a stalemate between Mr. Netanyahu鈥檚 right-wing and religious bloc and a cluster of center-left parties.
Benny Gantz, a retired general and former military chief of staff who is leading the centrist Blue and White party and is desperate to woo potential swing voters from the right, has ruled out including the Joint List in a future government, alienating some Arab voters.
No Arab party has ever been part of an Israeli coalition, but there is precedent for their providing tacit support from outside. Mr. Gantz鈥檚 rejection appears a gambit to fight the central message from the right 鈥� that he can only win a majority with the help of the Joint List.
鈥淎hmed Tibi or Bibi, why does he have to say that?鈥� bemoans Karem Zahalka of Mr. Netanyahu, referring to sloganeering on the right reducing the election to a simple choice: 鈥淏ibi or Tibi.鈥� Bibi is Mr. Netanyahu鈥檚 nickname, and Tibi refers to Ahmed Tibi, whom the right paints as more loyal to the Palestinian cause than to Israel.
Mr. Zahalka, 53, who helps run his friend鈥檚 coffee, dry goods, and candy shop, then rattles off a list of Israel鈥檚 past prime ministers. 鈥淣o one else has ever done this. But he [Netanyahu] keeps trying to divide people in Israel, and I can鈥檛 stand that. A prime minister is supposed to look out for all of their citizens.
鈥淚 want my vote to go to getting rid of Netanyahu,鈥� he continues, explaining his vote for Mr. Gantz鈥檚 party. 鈥淯ltimately Blue and White and the Joint List will find a way to work together, from inside or outside the government. What we are hearing now is just political noise.鈥�
A vote for integration
Sami Smooha, a Haifa University sociology professor and researcher, foresees the potential for especially high voter turnout this election among Arab citizens of Israel.
鈥淭hey see that this time their vote really matters, that they might have power, and this power could yield some results,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey are not going to be part of the coalition, but they will see some level of involvement.鈥�
He cautions that, according to his surveys, between a quarter to a third of Arab Israelis don鈥檛 vote. Not out of indifference, he says, but out of frustration with a system that they view as discriminatory and dismissive of them.
Yet this is happening against the backdrop of another trend: the process of ongoing identification as Israelis and integration into a country founded as a homeland for Jews on land they also claim as theirs.
鈥淭hey view themselves as part of Israel. They are bicultural, bilingual, they know the Israeli system,鈥� says Professor Smooha.
Joint List officials say they may gain an additional seat on the strength of left-wing Jewish voters who, they say, can find in them a new political home as the Jewish left shrinks.
鈥淭he Jews are flocking to the Joint List, and the hope for change begins with a Jewish-Arab partnership,鈥� Mr. Odeh told Walla! News, an Israeli news site. 鈥淭ogether we will create a citizens鈥� majority that will provide a crushing response to incitement.鈥�
The party has been savvy in its marketing to Jewish Israelis. In one ad, soundbites of presumably Jewish Israelis making racist remarks are played over the images of various Arab citizens listening to them in silence. And it has put up billboards in neighborhoods of two other disaffected Israeli minorities 鈥� Ethiopian Jews and ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Not voting
But some Israeli Arabs say they are not voting, citing both frustration and resentment.
Among them is Maysaloon Abu Ahmad, 27, from Nazareth.
鈥淚t only lends legitimacy for Israel to be able to say it is a democracy, but really, the Arab Knesset members don鈥檛 have a real voice or influence,鈥� she says. 鈥淎s long as the Knesset does not serve our interests, I will not vote.鈥�
At the same time, she is very much part of the integration trend. She directs a local gap-year program in Kafr Kara for high school graduates from Arab towns and villages that brings them more deeply into broader Israeli society ahead of college.
Rani Haykil, 32, who works with Kafr Kara鈥檚 children, running informal education programs, echoes Ms. Abu Ahmad鈥檚 frustrations and says he does not vote, either.
鈥淭he balance of powers doesn鈥檛 shift at all, even if Arabs vote. We see the hatred and racism of the parties saying there is no way they would work with Arabs. It鈥檚 incredibly frustrating,鈥� he says.
鈥淲e are people who studied, and learned, and want to integrate and represent the state, and we do so much in high-tech, medicine, and engineering. We lead and we take part, but when it comes to politics, they push us backwards.
鈥淎ll because you are born to an Arab mother, you are not seen as equal.鈥�
