Another election, another deadlocked Knesset. Israel is used to shaky coalition governments, but the impasse that has plagued Israeli politics in the last two years is unprecedented. And now, to top it all off, the role of kingmaker, the party that may determine who becomes Israel's next prime minister, is none other than Ra'am, led by Mansour Abbas.
Having the fate of an Israeli government depend on the votes of anti-Zionist Arab legislators is not new. In the early 1990s, the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin depended on the votes of the anti-Zionist Arab factions to maintain his governing majority. But of course, for many ardent Israeli patriots, having a government depend on the votes of legislators who oppose the very existence of the State of Israel reeks of sacrilege. After all, why should the future of the Jewish state be placed in the hands of people who do not even think it should exist?
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The answer to this question is simple. We've been doing it for years. Think about it for a moment. Has Israel always had governments composed of people and parties that are all Zionist? You've probably heard of them. They are the factions called Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ).
But although Shas and UTJ don't really believe in Zionism, they are more than happy to make or break coalition governments by exchanging their support for government measures that will benefit the people who vote for them. Thus, if it's okay to have non-Zionist Haredi parties in Israel's government, why is it not okay to have anti-Zionist Arab parties in it?
Few Israelis would suggest excluding these factions from being part of a governing coalition just because they represent Haredi interests that might conflict with the interests of other sectors of Israel's population, because suggesting that the Haredi sector not be able to support or be part of Israel's government would be discrimination. In the same respect, it would be wrong and discriminatory to suggest that Arab parties should not be able to support or even be part of a coalition government, even if their interests might conflict with those of other Israelis.
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