Since 2009, except for a brief interlude, Benjamin Netanyahu has been the Israeli prime minister. During his tenure, there has been an unprecedented improvement in the well-being of Arab citizens, both personally and in the towns in which the vast majority live.
Starting in September 2000, the Second Intifada lasted five years, causing the deaths of hundreds of Jews and more than 1,000 Arabs. As a result of the continued violence, tourism and construction sectors collapsed and with it, Arab employment. When it ended, Arab household incomes had plummeted, and they had lost hope in the Jewish state. In 2006, four important Arab civic organizations issued Vision Statements, all advocating for autonomy whereby Arabs would control their own education, police and civic organizations.
While this vision did not go far politically, it made it clear that the status quo was no longer viable, and reforms began. However, their implementation was soon in the hands of Netanyahu. For many, it seemed unfathomable that he would do anything to further Arab welfare since his consistent pronouncements at election time were thoroughly anti-Arab.
However, what he did legislatively was entirely different: aggressive and sustained affirmative action initiatives. This is akin to the actions of Richard Nixon, who in 1968 used his racist Southern strategy to win the presidential election and then initiated his Philadelphia plan to force racial integration in the construction trades.
Netanyahu had a number of reasons for mounting these initiatives.
Safety-net programs made Arab poverty very costly in the budget; entry into the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) required reducing inequalities; and high-tech entrepreneurs desired the greatest pool of educated workers. These pragmatic concerns led to budget initiatives to improve the infrastructure of Arab towns, bringing modern sewerage, improved transportation and industrial zones. Increased educational budgets drastically reduced overcrowding and increased performance levels. And affirmative action initiatives funded the hiring of Arabs in both the private and government sectors.
Sustained actions were also the result of the moral beliefs of many in Netanyahu’s Likud Party. The first leader of this Revisionist Zionist sect was the inspirational Zvi Jabotinsky. When the first five-year plan to more systematically improve the situation of Arab citizens was enacted in 2016, its preamble quoted Jabotinsky:
After the formation of a Jewish majority, a considerable Arab population will always remain in Palestine. If things fare badly for this group of inhabitants, then things will fare badly for the entire country. The political, economic and cultural welfare of the Arabs will thus always remain one of the main conditions for the well-being of the Land of Israel.
This five-year plan further increased the integration of Arab citizens into the country’s fabric. By the time it ended, Arab citizens were in leading positions in industry and government, on the Israeli Supreme Court, and as members of the new governing coalition that took over from Netanyahu in 2021.
The new government passed a second five-year plan that would further reduce inequalities. However, when war started between Hamas in Gaza and the Israel Defense Forces, the finance minister of the new Netanyahu-led government tried to freeze its implementation. The left-wing Arab-Jewish organization Sikkuy feared this effort:
In recent years, the implementation of the five-year plans for Arab society, though not without its problems and challenges, has made significant progress in narrowing the socio-economic gaps between Arab and Jewish citizens. For instance, it has resulted in an unprecedented increase in the employment rates of Arab women from 21% in 2010 to approximately 43% in 2022 and in the reduction of the poverty gap between Jewish and Arab families by approximately 19%.
Sikkuy’s fears were short-lived. The freeze was not only canceled; more funds were added.
One of the most notable successes has been Netanyahu’s response to the upsurge of violence in Arab towns, including the doubling of the Arab murder rate. In 2020, he initiated a campaign to hire more Arab police officers, leading to the doubling of their numbers. In recognition of the persistence of sexual violence, a special effort was made to recruit Arab women; allowing them to wear the hijab while on duty. Almost 100 women were recruited and to honor this effort, Israeli President Isaac Herzog held a ceremonial dinner for them.
Just as eventful have been efforts to improve the welfare of Palestinians living in eastern Jerusalem. For decades, they suffered benign neglect, receiving minimal government services, since it was expected that the area would be the capital of a Palestinian state. By 2010, the vision of a two-state solution had faded, and successive Jerusalem Likud mayors responded by dramatically changing government behavior. Services, including sanitation and mail delivery, improved dramatically, as did investment in public spaces, roads, educational resources and a rail line to West Jerusalem.
The Silicon Wadi plan was initiated to bring high-tech firms to eastern Jerusalem. With increased public transportation, green spaces, and a new technical college for training thousands of eastern Jerusalemites in advanced technology, the plan aspires to not only create thousands of new jobs in eastern Jerusalem but also to transform the area.
Jerusalem City Council member Laura Wharton of the left-wing Meretz Party stated: “The thinking here now is to develop high-tech and other industries that will allow people from East Jerusalem to find employment in Jerusalem.”
In 2024, the current Netanyahu-led government adopted a five-year plan for eastern Jerusalem. Its confirmation resolution stated, “The development and prosperity of Jerusalem … for the benefit of all its citizens … is based on the integration of East Jerusalem residents into the fabric of urban life and Israeli society.”
When the extreme right-wing attempted to cut funds that aided eastern Jerusalem students seeking entry into Israeli colleges, it was rebuffed. Since the initiation of this funding in 2018, the number of Palestinian students there who study in Israeli colleges surged by 85% (to 1,218 students).
Virtually all of these successful efforts are grossly underreported since they go against widely held anti-Netanyahu narratives.
