JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The outgoing Israeli government transformed the country in meaningful ways for Israeli Arabs, but has also empowered dangerous forces on the right. This was the most diverse coalition in Israel’s history. For decades, Arab political parties opposed joining past governments because they saw the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a barrier to their meaningful participation. Mansour…
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced on Monday the end of their governing coalition, which had just recently marked its one-year anniversary. Lapid will assume the premiership until the formation of a new government after elections, the fifth in three years. The possibility of losing a vote of no confidence…
During my years in public office, I attended many shivas for fallen soldiers of Israel. Each of them was emotionally draining. One, though, left an especially profound impression. Hadas Malka, a police officer, was stabbed to death outside Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate in 2017. She had refused to accept a safe desk job in the Israeli…
On a recent Shabbat, my family gathered to celebrate a new bride and groom. 30 of us were all looking forward to spending time together and enjoying ourselves. The highlight of Shabbat was a walking tour of the Abu Tor neighborhood in Jerusalem, one of the few mixed Arab and Jewish neighborhoods in Israel, which…
The mayor of Nazareth, the largest Arab town in Israel, announced on Feb. 11 that he was backing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel’s March 23 election. Outside of Israel, this landmark development was only sparsely reported on in American media. In a Reuters’ article that highlighted Netanyahu’s anti-Arab history, Arab leaders disparaged the mayor,…
The most viral video in Israel today is one honoring the Arab-Israeli health care workers who are on the front lines fighting the spread of COVID-19 in the country. The video has topped 2 million views in Israel alone, meaning it has been viewed by a quarter of all Israelis, which is more than any…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Arab Joint List recommended to President Reuven Rivlin that Blue and White head Benny Gantz be tapped to form the next government in order to end the political career of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Joint List head Ayman Odeh explained his coalition’s decision in an op-ed published in the New York…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The leader of the Joint List of Arab parties said he would join a center-left government after Israeli elections in September, under certain conditions — a move that would prove historic. No majority-Arab party has ever joined a governing coalition in Israel, though they have backed left-wing governments from the sidelines in…
