With the dissolution of the Joint Arab List and a new mindset taking hold in Arab society, campaign promises are being made to the Arab public left and right. Talk, however, is cheap. The submission of the parties' Knesset lists was the Jewish parties' first opportunity to show how serious they were. You cannot realistically offer the Arab public an alternative without reserving a respectable spot on your party's slate for a member of the sector.
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Both the Yesh Atid and New Hope parties that present themselves as candidates to lead the government and in polls are predicted to garner between 14 and 18 Knesset seats each, found that the 26th slot on their slates was an excellent spot to reserve for an Arab Israeli. The Yamina party's campaign has focused on the economy, an issue relevant to 21% of the country's population. Yet among the 40 names on Yamina's list, not one Arab representative can be found. Blue and White placed Elham Khazen, a woman who announced her candidacy for the presidency, in the party's 13th and final slot. It is safe to say she has a better chance of becoming the country's 11th president than a member of the next Knesset. Among religious Zionist and Haredi parties, the issue is irrelevant.
The Likud, which has brought about this renewed interest in the Arab vote, has failed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech in Nazareth, held virtual meetings with the heads of Arab local authorities, presented a plan to rein in the violence, and ran a campaign that focused on Arab society. The only thing missing was a realistic slot for a representative of the Arab sector. In practice, educator Nael Zoabi was placed in the unrealistic 39th slot – with the promise he would be appointed minister, if necessary, through the use of the Norwegian law [which stipulates that a minister may step down from his position, allowing for another member of his party to take his place – all the while maintaining his position in the government] if necessary.
Maybe. Still, this is not the way for the Likud party to earn the Arab vote.
Arabs are placed in realistic slots in parties on the Left. Having learned its lesson, Meretz is the only party to offer Arab voters a genuine alternative by reserving the fourth and fifth slots on its Knesset lists for representatives of the sector. Nevertheless, a party that has been sitting on the opposition bench for 20 years cannot be the right fit for the shifting winds in Arab society. We've grown accustomed to hearing the opinions of Ibtisam Mara'ana, No. 7 on the Labor party's list, from members of the Joint Arab List. In fact, Mara'ana's 2012 Facebook post, in which she described as "wonderful" the two-minutes in which she continued to drive as other Israelis pulled over and stood in silence during the Holocaust Remembrance Day siren, makes her even more radical. Fortunately, the Druze still have a few representatives here and there. Hamad Amar is in the No.6 slot of the Yisrael Beytenu party, for example.
Jewish parties had a real opportunity to forge an Arab partnership in the political arena, and that opportunity has been squandered. The lack of any genuine alternative means Arab voter turnout will likely be very low on Election Day. A strong, focused campaign may bring a few thousand people to the ballot box, but the potential for Arabs to have a significant impact has been significantly diminished. Maybe next time, inshallah, things will be different.
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