Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is about to form a new government after right-wing parties again won a majority in last week's Israeli election.
Looking back at the campaigns, it is clear that Israel has crossed an alarming red line in attacking the rights of Palestinians both in Israel and in the Occupied Territory.
The election featured:
Rampant incitement by Netanyahu and other politicians against the Arab political leadership in Israel. Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s main rival, adopted the same racist rhetoric, claiming that he “can’t have any political discourse” with the Arab parties, whom he alleged “don’t serve their [Arab constituents'] interests and are irrelevant”.
Attempts to disqualify Arab political parties – Hadash-Ta’al and Balad-Ra’am – and an Israeli Jewish candidate with Hadash-Ta'al from running in the election, illustrating yet again the discriminatory nature of the disqualification system. The motions were overturned following Adalah’s appeals to the Supreme Court. | Op-ed by Adalah's Sawsan Zaher
Adalah lawyers confer with Hadash-Ta'al party candidates during disqualification hearings in the Israeli Supreme Court in April 2019. (Photo by Mati Milstein)
Netanyahu declaring that Israel is “not a state of all its citizens … Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people – and it alone”. | Guardian Op-ed by Adalah’s Amjad Iraqi
Netanyahu promising to “extend sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank and stating that he does not “distinguish between the settlement blocs and the isolated ones, because each settlement is Israeli and I will not hand it over to Palestinian sovereignty”. | Briefing Paper
The Bedouin Authority announcing new plans to displace 125,000 Bedouin citizens from their villages in the Naqab (Negev). This follows an earlier announcement in January 2019 of plans to displace over 36,000 Bedouins from their homes.
A Bedouin man arrives at a polling station in the Naqab via transportation organized by the Zazim NGO. (Photo courtesy Zazim | Community Action)
Likud efforts to stop an NGO from transporting Bedouin voters to polling stations located far from their villages. The Knesset’s Central Elections Committee rejected Adalah’s demand to establish polling stations close to unrecognized villages and provide state-funded transport.
Likud illegally ordering1,300 cameras to be placed in ballot stations in Arab towns and villages, to intentionally deter voter turnout.
Cameras illegally placed by the Likud party at polling stations in Arab communities across the country on April 9 2019 were later confiscated by police. (Photo courtesy Hadash-Ta'al)
So what’s next?
For Adalah, the fight must focus on keeping the next Israeli government in check. With your help, our staff can continue to:
Challenge the Jewish Nation-State Law in Israeli courts, international human rights bodies, and the media.
Monitor new laws and bills that seek to annex the West Bank, and challenge them before Israeli courts and at the UN.
Protect the rights to political participation, protest, and free speech of Palestinian citizens of Israel.
But we cannot do this crucial work without your support.
Whether it’s $20, $50, $100, or more, your contributions are vital to ensuring our ability to defend Palestinians' human rights.
