Satmar in Denial

So here's how integrating the "Arab Parties" -- with a focus on the Joint List -- would actually hamper the integration of 2 million Arab Israelis. As I lay out at length in the quote-tweeted thread, there are critical, unbridgeable gaps between the Zionist Opposition and the Joint List (even @yayafink from the Democrats was on @newsisrael13 earlier, saying the Joint List would not be in the government). Namely: - the State's identity (I don't think the Zionist parties can or should compromise on that, and ADM by emphasizing preserving Israel as a "Jewish democratic state" would seemingly agree). Israel is long overdue for a constitution; this would preclude one from being drafted or adopted during this government's lifetime, and no the Netanyahu-aligned opposition will not vote for it even if they agree with every principle laid out therein. So that's off the table, with everything it entails regarding the relationship between religion and state and society and state that entails. -Security -- I'm not sure how any of the opposition Zionist parties can accept compromises when it comes to the defense budget, the IDF's role and -- for a coalition calling itself the "alliance of the conscripted" -- any compromise on Haredi conscription, which the "Arab Parties" oppose and which has reverberations on the economy and society far beyond just the IDF's manpower shortage. -Ultra-Orthodox integration, especially into the army: I mean look at this poll of 18-22 Israelis, and what's the number one party. UTJ. That trend is going to magically reverse during the life of a government that fails to address it because it can't get the votes? nitter.cf/israel_elects/status/2… Let's assume these issues go unaddressed -- the central issues upon which all of the Zionist opposition parties ran and specifically upon which they distinguished themselves day in and day out from the "Netanyahu bloc" and how they eked out every last vote. -You will have massive brain drain from Israel, as increasing numbers of Israelis cave into the frustration of subsidizing the Haredi Autonomy as @EylonALevy has dubbed it (good show, too!). This subisidization also has a tremendous impact on what some polls found to be the number 1 issue that drove Israelis to polls: the cost of living. See: nitter.cf/israel_elects/status/2… and especially here, where Cost of Living outranked Haredi draft exemption (and the two are interlinked), October 7 failures, and the Iran war: nitter.cf/israel_elects/status/2… -You will have massive loss of public trust in the ability of "change coalitions" to bring about the promised change. And whose fault will a frustrated and angry public believe this to be? I assure you, "the Arabs." "Ah, if only we hadn't included them in the government, then these matters would have been addressed." Now, imagine if somehow the Zionist opposition parties accept a compromise on IDF recruitment/manpower and the security budget -- and either a massive terror attack happens or a series of smaller terror attacks/a terrorism wave happens. That's going to influence Jewish Israeli mainstream public opinion towards more integration? Especially when there are sufficient voices with large enough platforms that will readily take this up and say: "look what this government with the Arabs brought you." This doesn't mean integration shouldn't happen or be actively pursued. Arab Israeli turnout shows the "Arab vote" cannot be ignored, nor as a matter of Israel's democratic values should it be ignored even if the turnout were much lower. But as I've noted elsewhere, this and Haredi demographic polling should be a wake-up call to the Zionist parties to start actively seeking to strip away the base of all sectoral parties. There is nothing more damaging to the ability of a country to function than sectoral parties (see, again, Lebanon or, increasingly, the Untied States much to my horror). I frankly don't know how a viable and durable government is going to be formed with the current numbers, nor will I presume to play a game of fantasy football just to get past 61. But -- and this effort should have begun in earnest decades ago, but alas 🤷‍♂️) responsible Right and Left parties must, as an existential matter, begin earnestly seeking to make Arabs and Haredim part of their constituencies, no different than how Begin make the Sephardic vote by and large a default Likud vote. Not just by getting them to the polls on election day and dumping their concerns the next day, but by actually showing that these parties will make these communities' concerns their own and will take practical, concrete -- if incremental -- measures to address those issues, i.e. pracrtically demonstrating that Arab/Haredi concerns can be addressed from within a Zionist context and by Zionist parties. But in the meantime, whatever government comes into office must prioritize having the numbers to deal with the existential issues at hand coming from ultra-Orthodox integration while also taking it upon itself to deal with the concerns of the Arab Israeli sector, whether or not an "Arab Party" is included.