For many years, I have enjoyed visiting the Arab cities and villages in Israel. Each time, I come face to face with the residents’ feelings of discrimination and bitterness, over and over. But I had never before encountered what I felt on election day this week, in the biggest Arab city in the sector. “Apathy” was the first word that came to mind when I got there, but when I looked more closely it seemed that another word was more fitting: despair. It was as clear as the sun that shone so brightly that day; one could almost feel it. And this despair was translated into anger that burst out so intensely that even the candidates of the Arab Knesset lists were astounded.

And they had good reason to be stunned. It became clear to me very quickly that most of the anger was directed against them, even more than against the Jews. The Arab MKs had tried to explain to them logically that mass non-voting would have negative repercussions. But as we know, anger and despair are irrational forces, and thus all the explanations were of no use. Also useless were their threats that a voting boycott by Arab-Israelis would only strengthen the Right, causing the incoming Knesset to be flooded with bills that would make their lives hell. Their allegation — “you are shooting yourselves in the foot” — did not help at all. On election day, logic did not prevail in Umm al-Fahm. As far as its Arab residents are concerned, one more bill against them makes no difference.

Such bills were not lacking in the outgoing Knesset. One example is the bill proposed by MK Danny Danon of the ruling Likud Party. He did not even try to hide the bill’s racist character in vague wording. He called it the “Pledge of Allegiance Law,” and its major points are as follows:

In order to strengthen the citizens’ feeling of belonging to the state and its institutions, it is proposed that as a stipulation for the state to dispense any basic official document to its citizens such as an identity card, passport and driver’s license, the citizen will be required to pledge allegiance to the state and its values. A citizen who negates the values of the state will not be able to benefit from its services […] The wording of the pledge will be, “I pledge allegiance to the State of Israel as a Jewish, democratic and Zionist state, and commit myself to guard its symbols and values and not take action against it or against any of its institutions.