In 1837, Hans Christian Andersen wrote the famous parable The Emperor’s New Clothes, in which an entire society colludes in an obvious lie until a single child dares to speak the truth. In that story, swindlers manage to deceive the king, his advisers, and the public alike. Yet, in today’s Israel, no one is deceiving the king. Rather, he is the one pulling the strings, and the entire political system, including those who proclaim to be the “Zionist center,” marches behind him with eyes wide shut.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can reverse his position overnight. He can declare the Ra’am party and its leader, Mansour Abbas, as “supporters of terrorism,” and the very next day, present them as legitimate, essential, even desirable coalition partners. And everyone falls in line. The political center, instead of offering values-based leadership, chooses silence and conformity.
The painful truth is that the real failure lies not only with Netanyahu, but primarily with those who claim to offer a political alternative yet are incapable of real leadership. Israel’s political center, rather than offering counterbalance and leadership based on truth and civic partnership, has become merely a pendulum swaying in Netanyahu’s orbit.
Israeli politics is complex – coalitions, polls, kingmakers, all of that is true. But leadership is not measured merely by the ability to count Knesset seats; it is measured by the courage to spearhead a moral path. We need leadership guided by values, morality, responsibility, and truth, not leadership that fears its own shadow and is dragged along by Kahanist discourse disguised as “the center.”
Ze’ev Jabotinsky declared even before the establishment of the State of Israel that Arabs would be part of its government, and that there could even be an Arab deputy prime minister. David Ben-Gurion, writing the Declaration of Independence in the midst of war, committed the state to full equality of rights and an invitation to partnership.
There was no dispute about this among the Zionist camp at the time, neither from the Right nor the Left. This was the essence of Zionism: a Jewish state that is also democratic, a national home for the Jewish people that grants full equality of rights to all its citizens.
Today, however, there are those calling for a “Zionist alliance” free of Arabs. This is a profound distortion of Zionism.
Arab citizens of Israel are an inseparable part of our society, in the workplace, academia, medicine, and education. We demand loyalty to the state from them, yet how can anyone feel a sense of belonging when they are repeatedly excluded from the political arena? Would any of us wish to belong to a place that does not want us?
When the leadership of the so-called center adopts this language of exclusion, when it is afraid to state a simple and clear truth – that it sees the Arab citizen as a full partner – it does not present an alternative to Prime Minister Netanyahu; it follows him. That is not a center. It is a pendulum.
As someone who lives in the Galilee, in a shared Jewish-Arab space, and as an educator who prepares students both for meaningful IDF service and for civic engagement, I try to understand this reality we inhabit. Even after October 7, with all its pain and upheaval, the fragile fabric of shared life still exists.
We fight for it day by day, and it has not collapsed. This, too, deserves honest recognition and acknowledgment. At the same time, I see the pervasive, long-lasting damage inflicted by irresponsible politicians who sacrifice existing Jewish-Arab relations for narrow, short-term gains.
But we, the citizens, will continue to live together, build together, and shape together the character of our country and our vision for its future. If this is our reality, it is better to do so in partnership, especially while there are still those out there who seek to be partners.
Mansour Abbas proclaims clearly: “I am not part of the Shura Council, nor part of the Northern Islamic Movement, nor part of other extremist factions.” And yet he continues to be smeared as a “terrorist” and shunned from dialogue, as if this fresh narrative holds no weight.
For years, the Israeli public said we were seeking representatives of the Arab public who were not entirely extremist, that not all would follow in the footsteps of the Balad Party and its ilk. Today, we are seeing a split, a new willingness to integrate, and a clear change in its civic stance.
The Zionist response should be to meet this moment. If politicians cannot and will not lead this process, Israeli society must declare its stance clearly. Otherwise, we will continue to harm ourselves from within, no less than our enemies attempt to do so from without.
The clearest example is the fight against violence “within Arab society.” In my view, this is not “their problem,” but all of ours – violence in Arab society is violence in Israeli society.
Leadership that fails to recognize this harms the state from within. Arab citizens who seek to live in a Jewish and democratic state and take part in it, you are part of us. It is our responsibility to fight for your place, including in government. This is a Jewish responsibility. It is a Zionist obligation. And anyone who cannot chart a path different from Netanyahu’s status quo should stop claiming to be the alternative.
The writer is the head of the Leadership Midrasha at Hannaton.