The “Other Israel”

More than one in five of Israel's 7.47 million citizens is a Palestinian Arab. Over 1.5 million in all. This does not refer, of course, to the 3.5 to 4 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, who are not Israeli citizens.

The Palestinian citizens of Israel vote in elections and pay taxes, and formally enjoy equal rights and equal protection before the law. In the context of decades of Israeli-Palestinian tension and violence, this is nothing to sneeze at, and it's unfortunately a fact that is sometimes overlooked by Israel's blanket detractors. Although Israel is far from a perfected democracy, the situation within its 1967 borders does not approach that of Apartheid-era South Africa.

Nonetheless, two items this week serve to remind us that, notwithstanding guarantees de jure, discrimination is an obstacle that continues to stain the fabric of Israeli society. The promise of, "complete equality of social and political rights," made by Israel's Declaration of Independence is still waiting to be fulfilled.

The first item deals with equal treatment by Israeli law enforcement - the police and courts. In a verdict that is sure to make waves in Israeli jurisprudence and beyond, Judge Yuval Shadmi of the Nazareth Magistrate's Court explained that he could not in good conscience convict an Arab 17 year-old charged with assaulting a police car during the Gaza War since Jewish and Arab teens are not treated the same way.

"Israel operates on two fundamentally different levels of enforcement for ideological offenses committed by Arab and Jewish minors," Shadmi maintained, continuing: "This ... discrimination can no longer be tolerated."

The second item deals with equal opportunity. Although Israeli law makes it illegal to discriminate in hiring based on, "sex [i.e. gender], sexual orientation, marital status, parenting status, age, race, religion, nationality, land of origin, opinion, party or reserve service," a study published this week by Israel's Ono Academic College demonstrates that reality has yet to catch up to legality.

Entitled, "The Excluded and the Educated in Quality Professions in Israeli Society", the study found that three groups, Ethiopians, ultra-orthodox, and - in particular - Arabs, had very low chances of being hired or receiving a promotion in a high-paying professional field, even if the were academically qualified. A full 83% of employers surveyed preferred not to hire an Arab employee, while 58% and 53%, respectively, tried to avoid hiring someone ultra-orthodox or Ethiopian. (The full report is available only in Hebrew, but the College has published highlights in English.)

Examining the fields of finance, law, accounting, communications, advertising and civil service, the study discovered a, "glass ceiling made of reinforced concrete" - with Arab, Ethiopian and ultra-orthodox citizens hard-pressed to translate their academic credentials into job market success. Lead researcher Moshe Karif summarized: "We like to consider ourselves a multicultural and open society, but the data shows that we still have a long way to go when it comes to equal opportunities."

One of the prestigious fields that a Palestinian Arab citizen finds difficult to crack is the media, which led researchers to call one of their report's sections, "Television: Not on My Screen, Please". As it happens, this Sunday, Meretz USA is sponsoring, as part of the third annual "Other Israel Film Festival" in New York, a documentary about Palestinian-Israeli Sayed Kashua, the creator of the first Israeli TV series ("Arab Labor") ever to present Palestinians as main characters speaking Arabic on primetime.

For those of you who'll be in the New York area, the film, "Sayed Kashua - Forever Scared", will be playing at the JCC in Manhattan at 5 PM, November 15 (details in our "Events" section below). I hope to see you there.

The mission of the Other Israel Film Festival is to, "promote awareness and appreciation of the diversity of the state of Israel, provide a dynamic and inclusive forum for exploration of and dialogue about the Arab experience in Israel, and encourage cinematic expression and creativity dealing with these themes." This is truly a worthwhile endeavor that Meretz USA heartily supports.