Israel’s ruling right-wing bloc is waging a targeted incitement campaign against Arab citizens to prevent opposition parties from forming a post-election governing coalition with Arab lists.
According to Atlas Diplomacy, a commentary titled “The Israeli Far Right’s Orchestrated Campaign to Portray Arab Citizens as Enemies” by Ron Gerlitz has been published in Haaretz. This commentary demonstrates that the unprecedented wave of anti-Arab incitement in the months leading up to the Knesset election is a calculated political strategy by the right wing to delegitimize Arab parties and block the formation of a coalition capable of replacing Netanyahu. Below is a summary of the piece.
In the months leading up to Israel’s parliamentary election, vicious incitement against Arab citizens has surged across vital public sectors. In healthcare, far-right influencers and commentators on Israel’s Channel 14 have accused Arab doctors and nurses of “poisoning Jews”; in public transportation, routine physical attacks on Arab bus drivers are accompanied by rhetoric labeling them “ticking time bombs”; and in education, anonymous text messages have urged Jewish parents to report Arab teachers and aides working in kindergartens. This demonization persists despite the fact that Israel’s healthcare, public transit, and early childhood education systems would collapse without Arab professionals.
This campaign is also driven from the highest levels of government. Senior minister Bezalel Smotrich posted a video on X threatening Arab citizens in the Galilee with the same repressive policies inflicted on Palestinians in the West Bank. The rise of Itamar Ben-Gvir from the political fringes into the cabinet, alongside the integration of Kahanists into the ruling Likud party, has brought virulent anti-Arab racism into the political mainstream.
The primary strategic objective of this campaign is to prevent a repeat of June 2021, when the inclusion of an Arab party in a governing coalition succeeded in ousting Benjamin Netanyahu from power for the only time since 2009. Research by the aChord Center reveals that years of political delegitimization have taken a heavy toll: large segments of the Jewish public, including opposition voters, now view Arab citizens as enemies. By labeling all Arab political leaders “supporters of terrorism” and extending that stigma to the entire Arab public, the planners of this campaign aim to make any post-election partnership with Arab parties politically impossible, even if their incitement sparks widespread civil violence in the streets.
Faced with this reality, Israel’s liberal-democratic camp has two options: it can capitulate to this coordinated incitement, continue boycotting Arab parties, and risk failing to replace the current government, or it can reject the demonization campaign and form a coalition representing a majority of the country’s citizens. Ultimately, however, healing Israel’s fractured social fabric will require more than a new governing coalition; it will require changing hearts poisoned by years of incitement so that one-fifth of the country’s citizens are recognized as full and equal partners rather than enemies./ Source
