Israel Makes its Case to the Arabs

Keenly aware of Arab misperceptions of Israel, the American Jewish Committee has been releasing a series of Arabic-language videos about, among other topics, the history of the Jews, the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, Jews in Muslim lands. Now it has released an animated short about Israel’s Arab citizens, their role in Israeli society, and the rights afforded both them, and all of Israel’s citizens. A report on this latest video is here.

A new Arabic-language video about diversity and coexistence in Israel, produced as part of the American Jewish Committee’s “An al-Yahud” (About the Jews) series, went live on Tuesday, September 15.

The new animated short, Is Israel Only for Jews?, presents the reality of life in Israel. Although Jews make up a majority of Israel’s citizens, approximately one out of every five Israelis is Arab, and all citizens are afforded the same rights and freedoms under the law. The government pays the salaries of imams and funds the construction of mosques in Israel, and Jerusalem is home to churches of almost every Christian denomination in the world. The film highlights the participation of Arab citizens in Israeli government, business, and academia and notes that while Israelis seldom agree on government policies, the right to protest and due process are ensured for all. The film is also being released in English.

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Overwhelmingly, Arabs have been raised to think of Israel as suppressing its Arab population, keeping them in a state of permanent inferiority. The short video — about four minutes long — explains that Israeli Arabs have the same civil rights as Israeli Jews. They have the right to vote, the right to free speech (including the right to denounce the state of Israel), the right to assemble and protest about everything from foreign policy to the price of bread. Israeli Arabs sit in the Knesset, serve on Israel’s Supreme Court, go abroad as ambassadors of the State of Israel. The chairman of Israel’s largest bank, Bank Leumi, is an Arab. Israeli Arabs work side-by-side with Jews in factories and in offices. Arabs are treated in the same hospitals as Jews, by medical personnel who consist of both Jews and Arabs. Jews and Arabs serve on the same sports teams, play in the same orchestras, study in the same universities. Jews and Arabs are partners in businesses, including restaurants and retail stores. The Israeli government has a special program to provide training so that Israeli Arabs can enter the world of high tech. The only difference in the treatment of Jews and Arabs is that the former must, while the latter may, join the military. And more Arabs, especially Christian Arabs and Druze, are choosing to do so. Major Alaa Waheeb is currently the highest ranking Arab officer in the IDF.

Arab propaganda consistently depicts Israel as an enemy of Islam; the video notes that the Israeli government pays the salaries of imams, and for the construction of mosques – financial support that no other government of a non-Muslim state provides.

“As the Arab world displays greater openness to Israel, it is important that perceptions of the Jewish state reflect its remarkable pluralism and diversity,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “Israel is, at once, the homeland of the Jewish people and a thriving democracy that is home to more than 1.8 million Arab citizens, all of whom enjoy equal rights and freedoms.

While Is Israel Only for Jews? does not focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it acknowledges that the conflict “requires meaningful and lasting resolution,” while challenging the notion common in the Arab world that Israelis are all Jewish or that Arabs in the Jewish state are oppressed. The film acknowledges inequalities and outstanding social challenges within Israel.

One-fifth of Israelis are Arabs; they are not oppressed but, rather, possess every legal right that Israeli Jews possess. Israeli Arabs are represented at every level of government, up to and including the Cabinet. Nonetheless, the video explains, the earlier age at which Arab pupils leave school is a problem. Arab girls get married earlier, have children earlier, and consequently leave school earlier, than Jewish girls. The scientific education of young Israeli Arab men is hampered by the lack of role models in their own community; very few Arabs receive advanced training in science. This is a problem the Israeli government, and private non-profits, are trying to address with programs of training in science for Israel’s Arabs. In the last decade, Tsofen, a non-profit, has directly assisted more than 3,000 Arab engineers in integrating into high-tech companies. The Labor Ministry also has an ongoing initiative – Forsatech – that places Arab university graduates in high-tech industries. These programs are little known outside Israel, and certainly not known at all in the Arab states; the video Is Israel Only For Jews? for the first time tells in Arabic the tale of Israel’s efforts to give its Arab citizens extra help in finding careers in high tech.

“The barriers to peace between Israel and the Palestinians are political, not religious or ethnic,” added Harris. “Muslims, Christians, Jews, Druze, Bahai, and people of other faiths live, work, and worship freely in the Jewish state, and Arab Israelis are prominent leaders in government, business, national defense, and many other fields. We hope this new film will help promote Arab-Israeli peace by upending stereotypes about Israel and fostering greater understanding of the Jewish state throughout the Arab world.”…

The AJC’s Harris is wrong when he claims that “barriers to peace between Israelis and the Palestinians” are “political, not religious.” What keeps the two apart, what feeds the endless conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, are the texts and teachings of Islam. Israel is the enemy because Jews are Infidels, the “strongest in enmity to the Muslims.” The land Israel claims as its own was once possessed by Muslims, which means, according to Muslims, it must always remain the property of Muslims.

But Harris is not wrong to note that “Muslims, Christians, Jews, Druze, Bahai” and others “live, work, and worship freely in the Jewish state” and that “Arab Israelis,” far from being oppressed, are “prominent leaders in government, business, national defense.”

This series of Arabic-language videos should dispel many of the misconceptions among Arabs outside Israel about how Arabs inside Israel are treated. My only suggestion is that it ought to be ten times as long – how much information can be conveyed in the current four minutes of animation? — giving many more details. Not just that Arabs sit in the Knesset, but how many are MKs, and on what committees they serve, and how important is the Ra’am Party to the survival of the current Bennett-Lapid government, and how influential is the Arab Joint List? How many Israeli Arabs own their own homes and businesses? How many Arabs have gone into business with Jewish partners, and what kinds of businesses – restaurants, high-tech – are they? How many Arabs currently study in Israeli universities? How much does the Israeli government spend on the salaries of imams, and on the maintenance, and building, of mosques? These are some of the questions Arabs will most want to have answered. And Israel can only benefit from providing those answers.