This week we were informed that the government has set up a special committee to deal with their affairs – the affairs of the Arab public in Israel. Ostensibly, this should be good news for Arab society, which suffers from substandard conditions in almost every aspect of life, especially rising crime, which has so far claimed 103 victims and many hundreds of injuries.
Although it is headed by none other than the prime minister himself, unfortunately, it is sinful to its purpose – out of all its members there is not a single Arab representative or elected official, except for a government official named Hassan Touafera, director of the Economic Development Authority in the Prime Minister's Office, who was clearly elected not to really influence, perhaps just to translate a few articles from Arabic.
Imagine: What would happen if a committee for gender equality without women were established, or a committee to examine a problem in kibbutzim or settlements without kibbutzniks or settlers? The answer is not complicated, but it is clear that the committee is not here to deal with these burning issues, but to try to understand exactly what can be done with the Arab public before the barrel of explosives explodes and sets the country on fire. This is not an imaginary scenario, and it cannot be said that it will happen unless it will happen.
It is not clear to me how a committee can be established to deal with the fundamental problems of the Arab public, when it includes figures such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who prides himself on hating the other, especially the Arabs. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who sees the womb of Arab women as a strategic threat; and Minister of the Negev and Galilee, Yitzhak Wasserlauf, who sees the Arabs as a demographic threat and works with all his might to Judaize the Negev and Galilee; Not to mention ministers who are not supposed to be relevant to Arab citizens' affairs, such as the ministers of intelligence and settlements.
It is clear that the establishment of the committee is a step intended mainly to absorb the anger that has existed in Arab society in recent weeks, following the continuation of the wave of murders and crime that the Israel Police has so far failed to eradicate.
But what is not clear is how to set up a committee that is supposed to discuss the future of two million citizens, without at least at the declarative level including Arab politicians and elected officials, experts, academics and internationally renowned professionals, and there is no shortage of such Arab names, let alone examples.
It is already clear that the issue of dealing with the burning problems in Arab society is not on the agenda of the Israeli government, and even if it is on its desk, it is from a strategic-security perspective rather than a civilian perspective. Moreover, the government has no interest, and perhaps no time, in dealing with geographical, economic, and political marginalization issues, centered on Arab citizens of Israel.
The entire Arab public is convinced that the committee's purpose is not to deal with the issues of crime, but to disperse statements and claim that the issues are under examination by the committee, and doubt whether any recommendation will be implemented. The Arab public has already learned about the non-implementation of committees' recommendations, such as the Or Commission, which investigated the events of October 2000 and made many recommendations following the killing of 13 Arabs. Apart from implementing one recommendation by the Israel Police – the transition to the use of sponge bullets in demonstrations instead of rubber bullets – nothing has been implemented.
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