I was talking to an Arab Israeli man and we were talking about the Israeli government’s action during the current Gaza war. He was saying to me that Arab Israelis cannot criticize the Israeli government online, not on Facebook, not on Whatsapp, not liking a post on X, nowhere that can be publicly seen. Why? Because you may get a knock on your door. I understand this is one person saying this to me and I don’t have a full poll out asking everyone, but I do get the sense that publicly criticizing the Israeli government online is not taken well, especially if you are Arab and are also an Israeli citizen.
And though Israeli law recognizes protection of freedom of speech as a constitutional principle, there is a chasm in what the state says and what the state does. Freedom of speech is not truly free if we cannot criticize our government without consequences.
I will also mention that Israel does not have a constitution.
Suffering consequences for being critical of the Israeli government doesn’t just extend to Israeli Arabs, the parents of the Jewish Israeli hostages that are being held in Gaza are also harassed by government officials and through social media. This seemed absolutely ludicrous to me. A grieving parent who has had their child held hostage for over 400 days is now the subject of scorn because they are seeking a truce and a cease-fire.
What about home and land ownership? There are Jewish neighborhoods and there are Arab neighborhoods, and few truly mixed neighborhoods in the entire state of Israel. An Arab would find it almost impossible to buy a house in a closed Jewish community, though there are notable exceptions. I will have to ask if the same holds true for a Jewish person wanting to buy a home in an Arab neighborhood. Should not the ability to buy a home or join a housing community not be dictated by your race or religion?
And democracy is not just a division between Arabs and Jews, it’s also between secular Jews and the ultra orthodox Jews. And though the army deserves its own blog post, the ultra orthodox jews are exempt from an otherwise mandatory military service for Jews in Israel. Is this democratic? Is this fair and democratic for one Jewish person to be exempt because they are more religious?
Arabs are also exempt from mandatory military service, but they are also not encouraged to join nor do the majority of Arabs want to join. Arabs would be fighting their own communities across the border if they were to join. The IDF does accept them by they are the extreme minority.
What I see is a country that has different rules for different races, religions, degrees of religiosity and a country that has different expectations for these people. I know America is also divided, too, and America’s democracy is on the edge as well.
But, it begs the question, what is a democracy anyway?
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