On Denying Arabs the Right to Vote in the Knesset

Statements by Knesset members from various factions from time to time about the intention to propose a law to revoke the voting rights of those who do not participate in national service is not a trivial issue. The matter has been raised before, especially by what is known as the left and center, such as Lapid, Gantz, and Lieberman, that they would enact a law preventing those who do not serve in national service from voting in Knesset elections.

This law is primarily intended to prevent Arabs from having an impact on decisions made by the Knesset and to stop them from participating in influencing the composition of any government, whether extremist or less extreme, or what is referred to as the left.

The day is approaching when this law will be enacted, yet it still faces the obstacle of Haredi Jews who do not serve in the army, as the law cannot be enacted as a law specifically for Arabs only, since Israel still insists on claiming to be a democratic Jewish state. By preventing Arabs from voting, it becomes Jewish and undemocratic.

Portraying Israel as a democratic state since its establishment has benefited it in its foreign relations, especially with the West, as it presents itself as a spearhead of European civilization in the Arab region. The participation of its Arab citizens in voting and parliamentary representation without restrictions has granted it considerable maneuvering space in the arena of European democracies.

The only time that the Arab vote formed a significant and decisive weight in political decision-making was in their support and confirmation of Rabin's government from the outside from 1992-1995, which achieved the Oslo Accords.

The Arab presence in the Knesset has served the democratic image of Israel, but in reality, it has not been able to change the racist policies towards the Arab populace on fundamental issues, as the confiscation of land in various forms has not stopped, nor has the restriction in building areas, nor the authority's failure to combat the scourge of crime, which has begun to consume Arab society, in addition to the unchanged position towards the occupation. Nevertheless, the Knesset has been a platform for a cry against racism and exposing it, as well as supporting specific laws that have benefited Arabs, particularly the well-known 922 plan and the 550 plan to improve infrastructure in Arab society.

The majority of secular and religious nationalist Israelis see that the Haredim should be prevented from participating in fateful decisions and reducing the budgets they receive on the grounds that they do not participate in what they call bearing the burden, but various Israeli governments need the Haredim in their coalitions and have not dared so far to enact such a law.

A day will come when this law will be enacted, either directly by preventing Arabs from participating under the guise of non-service, or by setting a ceiling on their percentage in the Knesset, or by transforming the elections into regional ones that dilute Arab power.

Preventing Arabs from voting and running for office is becoming imminent under these pretexts; initially, it will be a proposal, gradually transforming into public opinion polls, all of which fall under party competition and bidding on who is capable of stripping Palestinians of their rights.

Arabs were used when they were a small minority subjected to the ruling parties as part of deceptive Zionist propaganda, through which it was shown that "Arab Israelis" were receiving their full rights, meaning that Palestinians who left the country were not forced to do so, as evidenced by the Israeli state's treatment of its Arab citizens and its tolerance towards them.

Media cameras focused on figures wearing the keffiyeh and agal, in the Knesset or in conferences of the ruling parties or in public celebrations, promoting the idea that Arabs are partners in determining state policy, which gives it strength and legitimacy and distinguishes it as a democratic state in a region rife with dictatorships. However, when Arabs became independent in their parties and reinforced their identity as part of the Palestinian people and opponents of the occupation and its practices, exposing them, Israeli democracy was no longer able to tolerate them.

The pretext of non-service in the army has deprived Arabs of many rights, especially in the fields of distributing building land vouchers at reduced prices and in many job opportunities.

Preventing Arabs from voting will ultimately come closer, and will edge closer as the Arabs show the ability to raise their representation percentage in the Knesset.

They will find another way out, such as a citizen's loyalty oath to the state, and a political "good conduct" certificate. Arabs may be allowed only a certain percentage of Knesset members, excluding Arab members in Zionist parties, or dividing by regions that make it difficult to get representatives for Arabs, and the important thing is preventing this party or that from running in elections unless it recognizes the Jewishness of the state, and unless it acknowledges that a united Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the State of Israel, and that the Golan is part of Israel, and criminalizing the call for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, considering it support for terrorism and treason against those who demand it and excluding them from the law.

This means that the game of democracy and rights through the Knesset is nearing its end, and the days are pregnant with more tension between the state and its Arab citizens, which will push Arabs further to the margins, making it more difficult to obtain at least the minimum of citizenship rights. This necessitates that Arabs rise above narrow party calculations, selfishness, and self-centrism, and strive for unity rather than division inside and outside the Knesset, and cling to the rational democratic Jewish voices that still believe in the national and civil rights of Arab citizens irrespective of their association with national service, despite the rarity of these voices.