After all the references about the rising morbidity in the sector, the mass weddings and the disregard for the guidelines, it is good that we also mentioned in the evenings as an electorate last week. After all, there are almost 2 million people who make up 21% of Israeli citizens. In contrast to the ultra-Orthodox electorate, which is completely exploited and blackmailed, in the case of the Arab sector it is a huge electorate that has been lying on the political floor, withered and neglected for years.
Netanyahu’s latest discovery, which suddenly hopes to find a solution to his mandate shortage in this particular sector, at least for a moment illuminated the sector in the right light. After all, to this day, Israeli Arabs have received stereotypical, belittling, fixed and unfair treatment from all shades of the political spectrum – from the right, the center and the left.
The Arab public in Israel suffers from very few problems. High crime, illegally extracted illegal weapons, murder of women, unregulated construction, and all that before we talked about the gaps. There is nothing new in the fact that the representation of the Arab public in the Knesset is poor and negligent. For years, this has been a representation that deals only with Palestinian nationalism and contrast, and suffers from zero pragmatism. Until a few years ago, there was a “good reason for this” – the Arab lists were small and meaningless, and their whole essence was the ability to protest and make provocations.
But what is the excuse for the joint list, the united political force that has existed for about six years? In the last election the joint list reached a peak, 15 seats, but again failed to use its power for the benefit of its voters. Is it any wonder she falls in the polls?
This is not just the common denominator – all the parties in the Knesset are fixed in their perception of the Arab sector. Everyone has become accustomed to the fact that the sector has poor representation that can not be cooperated with, and no one really cares that it prevents Arab citizens from integrating into Israeli society as they would like. Fulfilled the sector’s neglect, but as part of the cynicism, how is it that none of the politicians recognized the opportunity to take advantage of this sector as an electorate?
The Likud at least knows how to use the Arab public for political purposes. To this day it has been a tool for anti-propaganda and intimidation purposes. It worked for quite a few Likud voters, and for some reason the right and center immediately aligned with the perception. Ganz and Lapid faltered with their plan to form a minority government in the previous elections, precisely because of the fear of their party members being portrayed as terrorists in Likud propaganda.
The left, on the other hand, treated the Arab public extensively, but through a narrow and narrow prism. He has always encouraged the already excessive tendency of the representatives of the sector to differentiate and protest as a way of life. The problem is that most of the Arab public is not like that at all. Most Arab-Israelis want more integration, not more differentiation.
So yes, the ridicule in the face of Netanyahu’s U-turn, which is looking for voters in the Arab sector, is in its place. The zigzag is truly one of the most glorious, especially after the Cameras Law, the “Arabs are flocking” video, and labeling anyone who has ever spoken at the Knesset buffet with a joint MK as a supporter of terrorism.
All the new parties that have recently emerged on the right, center and left do not appeal to the huge and desperate Arab public and do not offer them an alternative. Who said that the Arab public should only vote for the joint list? Although Netanyahu is cynical to the point of death, he is at least able to change direction. What leads him is only one criterion: the voting potential for him.
Thus, the center’s voters are air for him, the protesters against him are insulted, and the ultra-Orthodox parties, which act as if they were a separate state even in times of emergency, receive caresses from him. But where there is a chance of 2 seats, he will run to take selfies and make promises. This was also the case after the explosion with Lieberman, when he suddenly became interested in Russian voters for a full quarter of an hour.
The chances that the Arab stick will work are not great, but at least Netanyahu is not mentally fixed. He recognized the huge gap between the Arab public and those who represent it. This is a public that over the years has given up on voting, and rightly so. The most neglected and battered political segment of all sectors. So Netanyahu saw the seats on the floor, and said to himself – wait, why not lift?
Top of the joint list (Photo: Yonatan Zindel, Flash 90)To unite the people
Netanyahu is a wizard in mind games, at least for some of the public. But cynicism aside, the use of propaganda as a device that can be used to play in the public consciousness can also be a source of inspiration. Not just for fickle electorate games, but for us to remember that a leader can and should even influence a collective consciousness. That’s part of the deal.
Before we got caught up in the narcissistic propaganda maze, it was obvious. Leaders always wanted to control and engaged in political propaganda, but did not use it only to confuse the people. Leadership ability to influence the public consciousness can lead to a mad attack on Capitol Hill as we saw yesterday, but it can also be used a little more responsibly – to assimilate national values and educate the people.
The education of the people is not a zigzag between “the Arabs are flocking” and “now we love Arabs, because there is potential for 2 seats.” Consistent education is part of a leader’s role, and it makes a lot of sense when it’s connected to real values and not just voting value. To this day, the right has not challenged the cynical messages that came out of Netanyahu and the Likud group against the Arab sector or other sectors, but now Gideon Saar and Naftali Bennett are finally appealing.
Both Saar and Bennett are talking today about the need to unite the parts of the people, each in his own way. Only he who says “to unite the people” needs to understand what his words mean. How do you brother? First of all, do not get carried away. Put a limit on slime propaganda and slander, and stop being afraid of it when it comes from other directions. And there is a bonus: when not going out in full force against other sectors to gain sympathy, electorate can also come from creative directions.
Netanyahu knows how to be electorally creative, it’s just a pity that the public he addresses does not really interest him. It interests him to control. And yet, the very change in thinking leaves room for a slightly different thought about the wasted Arab electorate, through a more authentic appeal to this public. A less cynical appeal, with real intentions for the nurse. Thought material for serious parties.