Ten years ago, then-Israeli President Reuven Rivlin identified secular Jews, national religious Orthodox Jews, Haredi Jews and Arabs as the key populations comprising Israel’s citizenry and declared that their full integration would be essential for the country’s enduring growth. Rivlin’s groundbreaking remarks, widely known as the “four tribes” speech, brought new attention to Arab citizens, who comprise more than one-fifth of the country’s population.
A year later, the Israeli government began implementing comprehensive economic development plans to boost Arab matriculation from Israeli universities, employment in a variety of fields, as well as enhanced housing and transportation in Arab towns and villages. Improvements in the socio-economic conditions of Arab citizens, as well as increased interactions at campuses and workplaces, benefited relations between Jewish and Arab Israelis across the country. The health-care sector is an impressive example; 25% of doctors, 27% of nurses and 49% of pharmacists in Israel are Arab.
While multibillion-dollar government expenditures were welcomed, for decades, it has been civil-society organizations that have led, especially in the education area, efforts to deepen mutual understanding among Jews and Arabs and build constructive, cooperative relations. Many schoolchildren and youth encounters have long taken place at the 40-acre campus of Givat Haviva, the oldest and largest shared society organization in Israel.
Since Jews and Arabs attend separate school systems through high school and generally do not meet until they are in university or the workplace, encounters at Givat Haviva, supported in part by the Israel Ministry of Education, are meaningful for establishing viable interactions.
Programs that further the integration of Arab citizens into Israeli society, deepen ties with fellow Jewish citizens as well as with the government, are essential to the country’s well-being. That fact should impel American Jews to embrace initiatives advancing a shared society.
For many American Jews, however, Israeli citizens who are not Jewish were rarely, if ever, mentioned in our Jewish education. Directly engaging with Israeli Arabs was not common, even as many of us got more involved with organized Jewish life in the United States and traveled to Israel.
Some pondered at the time of Rivlin’s speech if American Jews constituted a fifth tribe. Certainly, the largest Diaspora community has a vested interest in Israel’s success, in the strongest possible American Jewish-Israeli relationship. Successive Israeli presidents have long welcomed U.S. Jewish involvement in many Israeli societal issues.
To not openly recognize that 21% of Israelis who are not Jewish are integral to the state, to not actively connect with them, is inconsistent with our values as American Jews.
A majority of Arab citizens identify as Israeli and want to be treated as equals. Fulfilling the promise of Israel’s Declaration of Independence (officially the “Declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel”) should be a common goal of Jews and Arabs, supported by American Jews. The State of Israel will “have equal social and political rights for all of its citizens without differentiating between religion, race and gender,” proclaims the declaration. It also calls on the “Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the state on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.”
Fulfilling that promise is consistent with Jewish values. While conditions in Israel and the United States are not entirely comparable, the essence of a democratic nation depends on the constructive interactions among its diverse populations. In the United States, we have long appreciated the imperative of working with other faith and ethnic groups for the betterment of American society. While the Israeli context is different, Israeli Arabs and Jews are destined to live together. That was and remains Rivlin’s core message.
The foundations of shared society have held firm since Oct. 7, 2023. Yes, the latest Givat Haviva survey found a significant increase in levels of mistrust among Israeli Arabs and Jews toward each other. Significantly, during Israel’s multi-front war, the situation did not deteriorate into violence between Arab and Jewish citizens, which was a sharp contrast to the violence that erupted in Israel’s mixed cities during Hamas’s missile and rocket attacks in May 2021.
At Givat Haviva and other entities working on Jewish-Arab relations, vigorous efforts are underway to ensure that rebuilding trust is considered a national priority. All Jews should join fully in this principled endeavor. Let’s invite Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel to speak at national organizations’ annual meetings in the United States and include visits with them during our missions to Israel.
Our shared Jewish commitments, both American and Israeli, to democracy will embolden all who are working to strengthen the shared society in Israel.