ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
Palestinian and Arab minority parties in Israel are gearing up for historic Israeli elections this fall. They're trying to oust a right-wing government that they say is racist and dangerous for Palestinians, but their biggest challenge may be divisions amongst themselves. NPR's Emily Feng has the story.
(SOUNDBITE OF HANGING POSTERS)
EMILY FENG, BYLINE: People flock to politician Yousef Jabareen when he enters the room.
YOUSEF JABAREEN: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: He's the top candidate for the party Hadash, a communist party which runs mostly Arab, but also Jewish candidates. And Jabareen immediately notices the big Communist Party flag projected on the wall at this campaign event.
JABAREEN: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: "Can we put up something more Palestinian, something more uniting?" he asks.
Because unity is on everyone's mind here - of Israel's approximately 10 million citizens, just under a fifth are Palestinian and Arab minority groups, including Druze and the Bedouin tribes.
JABAREEN: And we feel discrimination almost in every field of our life.
FENG: But for these communities to win a critical mass of seats in Israel's Parliament, or Knesset, they need to work together. Yet Hadash and the three other Arab-dominated parties in Israel have been unable to create a joint list of candidates because of one holdout party.
JABAREEN: Unfortunately, the Arab United List have declared that so far, they are not willing to be a part of a joint list.
FENG: And this lack of unity, Jabareen says, is dangerous because the October elections are critical.
JABAREEN: This is the mother of all elections.
FENG: Jabareen and other opposition candidates are warning four more years of a far-right coalition government will mean further weakening of democratic institutions like the courts and the media and would pose an existential threat to Palestinians.
JABAREEN: They mean ethnic cleansing in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, deepening the oppression against the Arab community within Israel, but also deepening the attack on the legal system within Israel.
(CROSSTALK)
FENG: Jabareen is holding this campaign event in the Arab majority town of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel, where voter turnout among Palestinians with Israeli citizenship is astonishingly low. Just one-third of voters came out in the last general elections. Two-thirds sat it out. Nihaya Wishahy, a Hadash member, is trying to prove to potential voters...
NIHAYA WISHAHY: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: ...That her party is present everywhere, with the people at all times, she says...
WISHAHY: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: ...Always pushing back against this government's policies, especially in Gaza - something most Jewish majority parties do not focus on - and trying to show people voting can change politics at a time when, Jabareen acknowledges, many Palestinians in Israel feel hopeless.
JABAREEN: There is a lot of frustration. There is a lot of mis-confident (ph) in the Israeli institutions.
FENG: Jabareen would know. He is from Umm al-Fahm himself.
JABAREEN: My responsibility as a leader to convince young people that this is wrong, that if they stay home, nothing will change.
SHADI IKHBARIYEH: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Shouting in non-English language).
FENG: Voters like 23-year-old Shadi Ikhbariyeh (ph) who runs this shoe store in Umm al-Fahm, tells us how that message is starting to get through, albeit slowly.
IKHBARIYEH: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: "We're not raised in this culture of being politically active," he says. "We're taught to make money first, not to think about politics." But this October, he and his father will vote - for who, he's not sure yet.
IKHBARIYEH: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: "We should understand our rights," he says.
But since the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023, mainstream Jewish majority parties in this election have refused to build a coalition with any Arab party. Even once elected, Palestinian politicians, such as Aida Touma-Suleiman, say they are ignored and censored.
AIDA TOUMA-SULEIMAN: Ministers were - did not agree even to answer our questions, did not accept to have any meetings with us.
FENG: Suleiman served nearly 12 years in Israel's Knesset, and this year, she's stepping down.
TOUMA-SULEIMAN: We had to face either suspension from the Parliament...
FENG: For criticizing the war in Gaza.
TOUMA-SULEIMAN: So for the last three months, all of us were under threats - physical threats.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing in non-English language).
FENG: These political travails are on the minds of these Palestinian citizens of Israel back in Umm al-Fahm...
SHAHER IKBERIEH: (Speaking Arabic, laughter).
FENG: ...Even while chatting and drinking tea and playing cards. Voter Shaher Ikberieh (ph) says Arab politicians need to form one united voice in the elections this year.
IKBERIEH: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: "I want a political party that fights with me, not against me," he says.
Their shared challenge is securing equal rights for all people in Israel.
IKBERIEH: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: "And as long as there is racism between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel," he says, "there will be no peace."
Emily Feng, NPR News, Umm al-Fahm, Israel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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