Israel's top Arab lawmaker says his people are being 'hunted' over support for Gaza

In the office of one of Israel's best-known Arab politicians, framed photos show him posing with famous figures like Bill Clinton, Yasser Arafat and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Outside Ahmad Tibi's office is the Arabic slogan: “The most beautiful days are those we have not yet experienced”, which the parliamentarian says is a poignant reminder for his people as they make the subject to increased surveillance after the Hamas attack on October 7.

The attack left 1,195 dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 37,765 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-controlled territory's health ministry.

The situation has put pressure on Israel's Arab minority, which makes up about 20 percent of the population and says it faces escalating hate crimes and unfair police actions.

“After October 7, hundreds of Arab citizens were hunted down, chased by Israeli police for writing an article or article empathizing with the children of Gaza or saying no to war,” Tibi said, the leader of a group of 65 years old. Party with an Arab majority, declared to AFP.

“These were, and still are, difficult days for Palestinian citizens of Israel.”

Adalah, an Arab minority rights organization in Israel, said community members who expressed sympathy for Gaza civilians were unfairly punished.

Between October 7 and March 27, Israeli police arrested 401 people, mostly Arabs, for speech-related offenses that they said amounted to “incitement to terrorism,” according to their figures.

During the same period, there were a total of 667 suspects for speech-related crimes – including only 13 Jewish Israeli citizens, compared to 590 Arabs.

“The repression of freedom of expression has created a situation in which Palestinian citizens…can neither protest nor freely express their opinions,” he said in a report released after October 7.

– Anti-Arab rhetoric –

But Tibi said he and other Arab citizens of Israel were against the killing of civilians on October 7.

“We have said here and everywhere that we are against targeting civilians… in southern Israel, any child, any woman,” he said. .

“Meanwhile, we are talking about more than 15,000 Palestinian children killed in Gaza. »

Yet in some schools, Jewish students demanded the expulsion of their Arab classmates who were subject to disciplinary proceedings, even though some were acquitted.

At a protest in a dormitory in central Israel after October 7, students shouted “Death to Arabs!” and tried to break down doors.

In November, far-right Israelis protested a Jerusalem store that employed Arabs.

But the MP – who says he lost 13 relatives from Gaza in Israeli bombings – believes that anti-Arab rhetoric does not provoke the same reaction.

“All those on the Jewish side who called for expelling Arab citizens, killing all Arabs, destroying all of Gaza… no one was arrested,” Tibi said.

The Israeli government highlights the role of Arabs in courts, hospitals and parliament as a sign of their acceptance into society.

But in 2018, Israel angered Arabs by passing a law defining the country as “the nation-state of the Jewish people,” and Tibi only sees inequality worsening.

“After October 7, it was ethnocracy, only for Jews,” he said.

– 'We will stay' –

Tibi himself had to face the anger of Israeli Jews after October 7.

“I received not dozens, but hundreds of threats from ordinary Israelis. When there is a war… everyone is considered a legitimate target.”

Asked if he feared being attacked, he replied: “No, but I am cautious.”

The former adviser to former Palestinian leader Arafat criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right ally, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, for deteriorating treatment of Arabs.

“He is a terrorist, according to Israeli law,” he said of Ben Gvir, a settler convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization because of his ties to a banned Jewish extremist group.

Ben Gvir in turn described Tibi as a terrorist and called for his expulsion from Parliament because of his pro-Palestinian statements.

“The general atmosphere in Israel…is almost fascist,” Tibi said.

But between dramatic hand gestures, Tibi says he still has hope that Jews and Arabs can rebuild the bridges.

“I’m realistic, but I’m always optimistic, because I’m on the right side of history,” he said.

If the war in Gaza ends, he says “democracy is the only way” to resolve the crisis, with a Palestinian state that offers full rights.

“It is a natural right of the Palestinians,” he said.

Switching to Arabic, Tibi had a combative message for his people and his adversaries.

“We are facing attempts at intimidation. We have resisted in the past and we will resist this wave of fascism and racism,” he said.

“We were here and we will stay here.”