Even since the police identified the perpetrator of Friday's shooting in Tel Aviv as an Israeli Arab from Wadi Ara, in Israel's north, some in the media have deceptively tried to cast him as a renegade in an otherwise tolerant Arab society that seeks coexistence. These outlets have insisted that this rotten apple must not spoil the entire barrel. The vast majority of Israeli Arabs are indeed law-abiding citizens who consider themselves loyal Israelis. This also applies to the Arabs living in Wadi Ara, which was annexed following the 1949 armistice agreement with Jordan. Israeli Arabs, by and large, believe they are an integral part the state and the Israeli collective. As proof, look at how they reacted when Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman suggested that Wadi Ara's Arab villages should become part of a future Palestinian state. But to better understand Israeli Arab society, we must look at the bigger picture. The national-Palestinian identity of a great number of Arab residents in that area, including prominent figures, is very much on display at Wadi Ara mosques and in various incitement-laden speeches. Those who reject Israel's right to exist have used the area as fertile ground to propagate their ideology since the state's founding. It should come as no surprise, then, that the head of the recently outlawed Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, chose Umm al-Fahm (in Wadi Ara) as his base of operations. Over the years, the area has produced several terrorist cells who targeted Jews in nearby localities. Arabs from the villages occasionally throw rocks on Jewish drivers in the area and have repeatedly rioted on Route 65, causing the closure of the main north-south artery in that region. Israel Arabs from the region have also been arrested as of late in connection to terrorism. Authorities have said that the cells from that area were involved in the ongoing terrorist wave. On top of that, the Islamic State group is becoming increasingly popular there. Considering this reality, any attempt to describe Wadi Ara's Arabs as mostly peace-loving individuals who seek neighborly relations with the Jews is just a form of sugarcoating at best.
Do Israeli Arabs really want coexistence?
מערכת ישראל היום
מערכת "ישראל היום“ מפיקה ומעדכנת תכנים חדשותיים, מבזקים ופרשנויות לאורך כל שעות היממה. התוכן נערך בקפדנות, נבדק עובדתית ומוגש לציבור מתוך האמונה שהקוראים ראויים לעיתונות טובה יותר - אמינה, אובייקטיבית ועניינית.
