The Blogs: Is racism keeping Arab parties out of Israel's government? | Eilon Schwartz

Eilon Schwartz argues that the exclusion of Arab parties from Israeli government is not primarily racism but a result of national conflict and lack of trust. He cites local-level cooperation and Mansour Abbas's 2021 coalition with Bennett as evidence, while warning against Netanyahu's exploitation of post-October 7 fears to delegitimize Arab political participation.

Eilon Schwartz argues that the refusal of Jewish-Zionist parties to include Arab parties in government is often mischaracterized as racism, when the underlying issue is national conflict. He points to successful local-level cooperation in mixed Jewish-Arab cities, where Arab council members join governing coalitions regardless of the mayor's party. Schwartz highlights Mansour Abbas's decision to join Bennett's coalition in 2021 as a breakthrough, noting that even Netanyahu considered bringing Abbas into government. However, he acknowledges that the October 7 Hamas attack and its aftermath have deepened Jewish distrust, especially as Abbas and Ra'am have not clearly defined Hamas as a terrorist organization. Schwartz warns that Netanyahu is exploiting these fears to delegitimize Arab political participation, raising the specter of a fifth column. The piece concludes that the core problem is not Jewish supremacy but a profound lack of trust, and calls for understanding the difficulty of crossing that divide.