After immigrating to Israel in the early 90s, I became well-acquainted with a very polite young Arab man who washed my car at a local Mevasseret Zion gas station. Some months later, when I stopped seeing him. I inquired why.
I was told that due to problems in the territories, these workers were not being permitted into Israel, even if they were not among those causing the problem. Knowing that this was his only source of income, I was saddened.
Like most Israelis, I had genuine respect for Arab Israelis whenever I encountered them and witnessed the same attitude everywhere I went. Consequently, we had no doubt that living together was possible.
Regrettably, not all Palestinians living beyond the Green Line have held those same sentiments.
If an outbreak of violent aggression occurs, closure is instituted. While that may seem unfair to the innocent who simply want to make a living, everyone ends up being punished for the sins of others.
Many liberal minded kibbutz members advocated for Gazans
This was the reason why many liberal-minded kibbutz members, living near the border, advocated for Gazans to have a more equitable life. What they failed to understand was that Hamas terrorists, unlike Arab-Israelis, were not interested in a peaceful coexistence or overcoming their hatred of Jews.
That was evidenced by what took place at kibbutz communities when members, who had devoted themselves to helping Gazans, were slaughtered, mutilated, and barbarically tortured, solely because of their ethnicity.
It was further internalized as rocket attacks, over the course of two years, fell on both Jewish and Arab neighborhoods.
This is the important backdrop that needed to be referenced in order to best relate to two recent Jerusalem Post articles on the subject of Arab society. The first, which appeared on January 6, 2026, entitled “Why defunding Arab society undermines Israel’s public safety, addresses the very serious problem of crime and violence in Arab society.
Citing a troubling pattern that has developed over recent months, within this segment of the Israeli population, writer Ilan Amit referred to the “budgetary constraints and security priorities” enacted by the government, negatively impacting the programs of “social, educational and preventive investments” he sees as “essential for long-term stability, equality and public safety.”
Calling them “the backbone which strengthens Arab society, reducing disparities,” helping to lessen the crime, Amit notes that funds for these programs were, instead, diverted towards security, policing, and intelligence operations – measures to reduce violent crime.
It is this shift that has Amit concerned, that rather than investing in this community, Israel is more focused on a preventative strategy.
Clearly, these are two different perspectives, with one focusing on embracing Arab-Israelis, while the other prioritizes safety for the Jewish Israeli majority. Amit, just as many kibbutz members, sees this as an unfair collective punishment.
The second article, entitled “The emperor has no clothes and the Israeli center follows behind,” also appeared on the same day. It discusses the role of Arabs in Israeli society, citing that Ze’ev Jabotinsky strongly believed that Arab citizens should have full equality with rights as well as play a role in the Israeli government, ideals also supported by the Zionist camp of his day.
Writer, Yoav Ende, therefore, finds it distressing that, today, there are “those calling for a Zionist alliance free of Arabs,” something he believes to be a “profound distortion of Zionism.”
Considering Arabs as “an inseparable part of our society, in the workplace, academia, medicine and education, Ende argues that “if we expect loyalty to the state from them, we must provide them with a sense of belonging rather than cause them to feel excluded.”
It’s hard not to find merit in the position of both writers, who are making the case for a more unified and safer Israeli society by sending an unequivocal message to Israeli Arabs that they are accepted and respected by their Jewish counterparts.
It’s also fair to say that while probably the vast majority of Jewish Israelis do feel warmly towards their Arab neighbors, despite the events of October 7, given the ongoing incidents of crime in their community, it’s legitimate to ask, “How can we coexist with a segment of Arab-Israelis, if they can’t coexist with their own kind?
Just over the past week, a father and son were murdered in Nazareth, and another man was murdered in Kfar Qara.
This is not an anomaly. This past year saw a whopping 252 murders within Arab society, making it a bloody year in that community. But as Yoav Ende pointed out, “this is not ‘their problem’ but all of ours. Violence in Arab society is violence in Israeli society.” Of course, he is correct!
In spite of this dark picture, violence, as a way of life, is not the case with all Arab-Israelis. We largely coexist warmly, patronizing their shops, eating in their restaurants, and living amongst them without fear or suspicion.
Unfortunately, this is a glimpse of Israeli society, which is not widely portrayed abroad to a people who are invested in an “either/or” citizenry. Unfortunately, they see a skewed viewpoint of what it entails to excise a brutal enemy from our midst, who is already thinking of the next massacre.
While it might be tempting for the government to look upon Israeli Arabs as not being worthy of an equal footing with Jewish citizens, the powerful message of peaceful coexistence, comprised of a very mixed population, is one that can go a long way towards gaining the world’s respect and admiration.
The question is how committed all of us are to that goal. Jewish Israelis must support Arab-Israelis who value their life in the Jewish homeland. Together, we must exemplify the possibility of mutual respect and regard, demanding the same from the perpetrators of violence within the Arab-Israeli community, who are making life intolerable for each side.
Otherwise, we will undermine the cause of living peaceably as one people, in spite of our ethnic and religious differences. It’s the best defense against a two-state solution, which also doesn’t guarantee peace, especially when it is sorely lacking in the hearts of many.
The writer is a former Jerusalem elementary and middle school principal. She is the author of Mistake-Proof Parenting, based on the time-tested wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs, available on Amazon.