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Viewing cable 09TELAVIV348, THE ISRAELI ARAB COMMUNITY AND THE 2009 ELECTIONS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09TELAVIV348 2009-02-09 13:02 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Tel Aviv
VZCZCXRO6268
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHTV #0348/01 0401302
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091302Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0442
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 000348 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR KDEM IS
SUBJECT: THE ISRAELI ARAB COMMUNITY AND THE 2009 ELECTIONS 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY AND COMMENT:  Arab parliamentarians and civil 
society activists told an audience of diplomatic representatives 
that an increasing sense of alienation among Arab Israelis would 
likely lead to an all-time low voter turnout for te February 10 
general elections.  Factors contriuting to the expected low turnout 
include negatie Arab reaction to the war in Gaza; perceived media 
and GOI incitement against Arabs; political, socal, and economic 
inequality between Arabs and Jes; and the increasing popularity of 
what particiants label as the "fascist" Yisrael Beiteinu Party 
(YBP) - a party that attempted (unsuccessfully) to bar two Arab 
parties from the upcoming elections and that has attracted 
considerable appeal among Jewish voters who agree with the party's 
slogan: "without loyalty, there is no citizenship."  While the 
participants at the Mossawa NGO colloquy empathized with the recent 
calls for an Arab Israeli boycott of the elections, they unanimously 
rejected the idea as counterproductive.  While the Arab community's 
alarm at Yisrael Beiteinu's rising popularity is understandable, 
Israeli Arab leaders often fail to recognize how their own public 
rhetoric -- which often draws rhetorical parallels between Nazi 
Germany and contemporary Israel -- contributes to the success of 
Lieberman's jingoistic message.  END SUMMARY AND COMMENT. 
 
THE IMPACT OF GAZA ON THE ARAB VOTE 
 
2.  (U) The Arab NGO Mossawa ("Equality" in Arabic) invited 
diplomats to hear the views of Arab Knesset members and civil 
society leaders from the Arab community in Israel on the eve of 
elections.  The NGO and its invitees are representative of the 
assertive, nationalist voices of many, but not all, Arab citizens of 
Israel, many of whom prefer to call themselves Palestinians living 
in Israel or "the Arabs of 1948."  The panelists cited the recent 
Israeli military offensive in Gaza as a major factor leading to the 
various calls for Arab Israelis to boycott the February 10 
elections.  United Arab List MK Ibrahim Sarsour alleged that "the 
crisis in Gaza and in all the occupied territories showed that the 
actions of Israel are despicable; they are war crimes and state 
terrorism."  Haifa University Professor of Psychology Ramzi 
Suleiman, who has long been involved in Jewish-Arab coexistence 
programs, admitted that the situation in Gaza has made him lose 
hope:  "It was a massacre and it was state terror," he argued. 
Mossawa Center Director Jafar Farah complained about what he saw as 
the disproportionate use of police force at demonstrations against 
the war in Arab-Israeli communities.  Aida Touma-Suleiman of the 
Arab-Jewish (formerly Communist) Hadash Party said "We thought we 
had the right to protest against this war," lamenting the 700 
arrests and dozens of indictments that resulted from such protests. 
(Comment:  It is not clear to us to know many of these protestors 
were arrested for offenses such as blocking traffic or throwing 
stones at motorists, activities which the police said were common. 
End Comment.) 
 
INCITEMENT AND THE YISRAEL BEITENU EFFECT 
 
3. (U) In addition to the war in Gaza, panelists cited what they saw 
as increasing incitement against Arab Israelis within mainstream 
Jewish society as another contributing factor in the calls for an 
election boycott.  Farah alleged incitement in the Israeli media 
against Arabs, pointing to what he claimed were 168 incidents of 
media incitement against the Arab community in 2008.  Farah 
presented examples of political and media incitement that included 
Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman's veiled call in 2006 for 
the execution of Arab Balad MKs who have visited Syria by stating 
"the fate of the collaborators in the Knesset should be identical to 
that of the Nazi collaborators." Farah also noted that in January, 
MK Arieh Eldad of the far-right Ha'Tikva party was photographed with 
a snake and was quoted as saying that after working with the Arabs 
in the Knesset he is not afraid to handle snakes. 
 
4.  (U) MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List) complained about the 
political environment in Israel and compared Avigdor Lieberman, the 
founder of the Yisrael Beiteinu, to France's Jean-Marie Le Pen and 
Austria's Jorg Haider.  Tibi did not understand why the 
international community does not express its disdain for Lieberman 
like it did for Le Pen and Haider.  Tibi called upon the 
international community to protest "fascist" parties in Israel and 
to refuse to meet with Lieberman as a government official. 
Lieberman, for his part, credits Tibi for a portion of Yisrael 
Beiteinu's popularity among Jewish voters. 
 
5.  (U) Touma-Suleiman noted that Arab Israelis also feel threatened 
by the Israeli security services, arguing that "there is an 
offensive attack against Arabs by the Israel Security Agency (ISA) 
and the police, and there is an increase in attacks against Arabs in 
Israel."  Several speakers referred anecdotally to campaigns from 
Jewish communities and political parties to boycott Arab businesses. 
 In the Second Intifada this happened in Nazareth, and in October 
2008 this occurred again in Akko.  Farah maintained that the boycott 
persists in Akko and Haifa. 
 
6.   (U) According to participants, the litany of frustrations 
suffered by Arab-Israelis has led to disillusionment with the 
 
TEL AVIV 00000348  002 OF 002 
 
 
political process in Israel and a pervasive sense that voting is not 
worth the effort.  MK Tibi cautioned, however, that such tendencies 
were counter-productive, arguing that only in elections is there 
full equality with "one man, one vote."  "We as Arabs shoot 
ourselves in the foot if we discourage voting," he said.  Farah 
agreed, but noted that "elections do not mean genuine democracy." 
Farah also stressed that the Knesset's Central Election Commission's 
attempt in January to ban some Arab parties from the Knesset (which 
was subsequently overruled by the High Court) is the third time that 
such an effort has been attempted.  This implies a political 
de-legitimization of Arab parties, he said, and the Arab community 
does not want to continue being rescued by the High Court.   Like 
Tibi, Farah stressed that while the inclination to boycott the 
elections was understandable, the Arab public must remain engaged in 
the political process in order to work toward full equality for the 
Arab minority.  Farah thought the boycott attempts would fail, but 
still expected Arab turnout on February 10 not to exceed 43 
percent. 
 
7.  (SBU) Comment:  While the Arab community's alarm at Yisrael 
Beiteinu's rising popularity is understandable, Israeli Arab leaders 
often fail to recognize how their own public rhetoric -- which often 
draws rhetorical parallels between Nazi Germany and contemporary 
Israel -- contributes to the success of Lieberman's jingoistic 
message.  Many Jewish Israelis suspect their Arab compatriots of 
being more loyal to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and even 
to Hizballah in Lebanon, than to Israel.  Jewish Israelis also 
resent the refusal to perform national service (military or 
civilian) and widespread tax evasion among the majority of Arab 
Israelis, and perceive them as being ungrateful and hypocritical for 
enjoying the benefits of citizenship in the region's only developed 
democracy while refusing to contribute their share.  Against such a 
backdrop, Yisrael Beiteinu's campaign slogan -- "without loyalty, 
there is no citizenship" -- has been met with widespread applause in 
Jewish Israeli society, particularly in the wake of Operation Cast 
Lead in Gaza and Arab protest against it.  As prominent commentator 
Yossi Klein Halevy said this week, Yisrael Beiteinu is "riding an 
ugly wave of (anti-Arab) resentment among Jewish Israelis." 
 
CUNNINGHAM