https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273825/arab-israelis-today-joseph-puder
British Labor party shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry, speaking at the British House of Commons (May 13, 2019), accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of taking steps that pushed Israel “away from democracy, and away from the rule of law while also attacking the freedoms of Israeli Arabs…” It is apparent that Ms. Thornberry’s accusations against Prime Minister Netanyahu have to do with the Jeremy Corbyn led Labor party policies rather than with reality on the ground. This reporter has just traveled throughout Israel and experienced a different reality insofar as Arab-Israeli citizens are concerned. Ms. Thornberry should do likewise and travel throughout Israel before making a judgement about Arab freedoms in Israel.
In the last Israeli parliamentary elections on April 9, 2019, the combined Arab parties, Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am-Balad lost 3 seats (mandates) in the Knesset. Ahmed Tibi and Ayman Odeh decided to run on an independent list and garnered 6 seats while the more radical and Islamist Ra’am-Balad party, led by Mansour Abbas received 4 (it barely passed the threshold of 3.25% of the vote), down from 13 in the previous 2015 elections when the two parties ran on a combined list. These results reflect the disenchantment of younger Arab-Israelis with their Knesset representatives. The Arab Knesset members, in the words of many young Arab voters, care more about the welfare of Palestinian Arabs than about their own constituents, who seek to integrate into Israeli society and partake in Israel’s prosperous economy.
The New York Times, with its anti-Netanyahu bias, reported (by David Halbfinger) on March 20, 2019 that according to a new poll from the University of Maryland suggested that Mr. Netanyahu’s racial provocations may spur turnout among Arab voters motivated to usher him out of office.