Said Abu Shakra can’t believe it. Earlier this week, a Jewish Israeli he does not know called his contemporary art gallery in Umm Al-Fahm, a major Arab city in the north of the country. She inquired about the timetables, then, all of a sudden, launched into a political harangue: Saïd must vote in the legislative elections of 1is November, she urged him. He must also get his neighbors to vote. The fate of Israel is in their hands. Said Abu Shakra hung up his phone, he sighed deeply and laughed.
Basically, he agrees. Said will vote. But he’s had enough of Jews asking him to solve their problems before worrying about his own. It’s a paradox: never in its history has Israel’s Arab minority (20% of the population) been so courted, so powerful. In the fifth ballot since the spring of 2019, his voters are kingmakers. And yet, they never seemed so tired.
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was deposed in June 2021 by a motley coalition of opponents. For the first time in the history of the Jewish state, an Arab party participated in the government that succeeded it: an Islamist group, the Joint List, led by Mansour Abbas. This hitch broke after a year. Back to the polls. The Jewish majority votes systematically, selflessly, at more than 70%. She notes that the Palestinian citizens of Israel are increasingly turning away from politics. Polls promise less than 50% participation in the community. If they are telling the truth, Mr. Netanyahu will return to power.
“People think that these elections will not serve the Palestinians” notes gallery owner Saïd Abu Shakra based in Umm Al-Fahm
“Our parties have been strong since they managed to make a common list in 2015. But today it’s to be or not to be… Disunited, they are no longer even sure of entering the Knesset” by passing the bar of 3.25% of the votes, notes Saïd Abu Shakra. “People think that these elections will not serve the Palestinians. » Old supporter of the communist formation Hadash, where Jewish executives sit alongside Arabs, the gallery owner will vote this year for the Islamists, holding his nose. “Their leader, Mansour Abbas, is brave, he says what he thinks. I prefer to be with him, involved, powerful, and not on the side of the victims, of those who accuse and blame. »
Said Abou Shakra is a former police officer in the Israel Police. He retired early to devote himself to the associative gallery he founded in 1996, which regularly exhibits Jewish artists. If Mr. Netanyahu returned to power, he would lose hope of having it recognized as a museum by the State, the first in an Arab city. In Umm Al-Fahm, his fellow citizens admire his energy. But he also irritates many, like lawyer Ahmad Khalifa, who does not vote. Ideological affair: Mr. Khalifa here leads the nationalist movement Abnaa Al-Balad, “son of the country”, which rejects the Jewish nature of the state. This formation was born in the city. Just like the Islamist Movement of the North, banned in Israel.
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