In a normal country, one that endeavors to uphold basic principles of democracy like the separation of powers, the kind of demonstration seen on Saturday would have been led by minorities and the marginalized. In Israel, notably, Arab citizens were missing.
Common sense dictates that every citizen fearful that their rights will be gutted, as individuals and as a collective, would find common ground with participants of a demonstration calling for saving the legal system and democracy.
The dramatic statement by Supreme Court President Esther Hayut last week, expressing what the destruction of the legal system and undermining of human and civil rights may mean for Israel's future, should've provided tremendous incentive for supporters of the demonstration among Israel's minorities to join in, as well as imprint on them the gravity of the situation for Israel's Arab citizens.
And yet, yesterday's demonstration in Tel Aviv, like the one before it last week, was devoid of Arab citizens – in every sense of the word. It's true that there was representation of Arab parties such as Hadash-Ta'al, and even United Arab List Chairman Mansour Abbas called for participation. They were joined by activists from various civil society organizations that made an effort to come. However, the fact is that there was no mass mobilization to bring masses of Arab citizens to the square.
It's not just about organizing transportation to the event. Consider the Arab Israelis who live only a few kilometers away from the centers of the demonstrations: Lod, Ramle, Jaffa and Haifa; and the Arab communities in the center of the country, such as Taibeh, Tira, Kafr Qasem and Qalansuwa, for whom going to Tel Aviv is a routine, almost daily occurrence. It means potential participation by tens of thousands of people.
In practice, this didn't happen. Hadash and the United Arab List are known as parties with a well oiled field apparatus. They were joined by civil society organizations, NGOs, and the Arab local councils – which even sent an official letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week warning of the consequences of the government's plans. All these groups limited their activity to warnings and announcements to the media and were less interested in mobilizing for attendance at the demonstration.
It should be emphasized: Saturday's demonstration and its massive turnout did not rouse a lively public discourse in Arab society. It's an issue that is considered a matter for discussion among a few intellectuals, nothing more. Bringing out thousands of people in the Arab community is not a simple task in any case. In the past decade there have been almost no mass protests (except for the protest against violence in Arab society in October 2019).
The sense of frustration stemming from the divisiveness in the political arena has only reinforced reluctance to take to the streets for a civil protest. To that we should add the events of Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2021 and their consequences: badly damaged trust, mass arrests, and the sentences handed down only recently against demonstrators (some of whom received long prison sentences). All these reinforced the fear of direct clashes, even if it was a civil demonstration.
There is also another element at play here, namely the feeling of mistrust in Arab society towards all governmental institutions in Israel – including the justice system. Arab citizens cannot seriously turn out to defend the half-democracy that gives them civil freedom of action, but oppresses them as a national minority.
Examples of that can be found in a long series of rulings, from approval of the Nation State Law to approval of the Admissions Committees Law and the Citizenship Law (with its humanitarian consequences), to ignoring the failure to implement historic decisions such as allowing the return of those uprooted from the Galilee villages of Ikrit and Biram.
These few examples are just some reasons behind the frustration and mistrust felt by Arab citizens towards the Israeli legal system and democracy. And this is without mentioning the status of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This is the same Israeli High Court of Justice and Israeli democracy that intensified the occupation and approved a policy of dispossession, discrimination and apartheid for decades.
Another issue that can't be ignored relates to the organizers and supporters of the demonstration who made sure that their names would not be associated with an agenda focused on Arab equality or chants of "an end to the occupation."
The message – that such statements would undermine the legitimacy of the demonstration and provide fodder for its opponents – filtered down, and reverberated in the Arab community. What is happening now is designed to protect democracy in Jewish and Zionist Israel – and not democracy in Israel. Vive le difference.
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