Mohammad Darawshe Discusses Arab Vote on NPR

Givat Havia Director of Strategy Mohammad Darawshe was a guest on the popular NPR On Point program the day before elections in Israel. The other guests with On Point Host Meghna Chakrabarti were Haaretz columnist Dahlia Scheindlin and Israel Democracy Institute research fellow Gilad Malach. Listen to full broadcast : Israel's election and what it means for U.S. support | On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti

 

The transcript of Darawshe’s conversation with Chakrabarti follows: 

 

MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: One of the voting groups that has oftentimes, I guess you could fairly say, been excluded in a way from the country's political system, and that is Arab citizens of Israel. They make up about a fifth of Israel's population. Many identify as Palestinian, and historically, they have voted at lower rates than Jewish Israelis. So, we spoke with Mohammad Darawshe. He works at Givat Haviva, the center which promotes Jewish-Arab relations.

 

MOHAMMAD DARAWSHE: For Arab citizens, the first thing about elections is to assert citizenship, to assert equal participation in the political system. Basically, to say that we are part of this entity called the State of Israel, and we are not here as guests, we are as homeowners of the state.

 

CHAKRABARTI: But Arab parties have usually been excluded from negotiations to form governing coalitions, which Darawshe says has disillusioned many voters. In 2022, just 53% of Arab voters in Israel turned out. The national average was more than 70%. Darawshe, though, expects a higher turnout this year.

 

DARAWSHE: I think that we are nearing maybe 65 to 68% turnout. This means addition of about, every four and a half, 5% of Arab voters means one additional seat to the Arab political parties, but also, it's an additional seat to the center block.

 

CHAKRABARTI: Many of these voters oppose Netanyahu's war in Gaza, which has killed at least 74,000 Palestinians. They're also concerned about their own lives within Israel. Darawshe says there's currently an epidemic of organized gang violence in Arab communities, and about 80% of the country's murder victims last year were Arab.

 

DARAWSHE: Police negligence is tremendous, and they keep it as pretty much a chaotic life where the danger of an Arab citizen to get killed is about eight times more than the danger of a Jewish citizen to get killed.

 

CHAKRABARTI: Netanyahu's primary challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, has pledged to crack down on violent crime and treat Arab communities more equally. However, he too has ruled out including Arab political parties in a governing coalition. But Darawshe says, depending on turnout, Eisenkot may have no other choice.

 

DARAWSHE: The leaders of the Arab political parties, they do not expect wonders from Eisenkot. They do not expect absolute solutions, but definitely improvement, significant improvement on the civil right issues of Arab citizens, and with that they will provide the support, the safety net, or political partnership option to Eisenkot.

 

CHAKRABARTI: Darawshe is concerned that turnout, though, could be suppressed by voter intimidation. Netanyahu's Likud party and the far-right religious Zionism party have announced plans to send nearly 2,000 activists to polling places in Arab communities, citing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.

 

DARAWSHE: Anywhere from sending extreme right-wing people to the ballots in Arab towns and villages, that will create an intimidating situation. People with guns, people with presence that might threaten normal people there to say voting station will be dangerous for me.

 

CHAKRABARTI: So that's Mohammad Darawshe, director of strategy at the Givat Haviva Center, which promotes Jewish-Arab relations.