Israel's Arabs are not a joke
If the Jewish majority keeps ignoring this sizeable minority, unless as the butt of an April Fools' joke, the collision will be inevitable.
"I decided to appoint the chairman of the Joint Arab List, MK Ayman Odeh, as Minister of Education," announced Prime Minister Netanyahu on his official Facebook page on Wednesday, immediately sending the internet into a frenzy.
There were those who screamed about the betrayal and there were those who were moved to tears by the gesture, but everyone quickly realized that this was merely an April Fools' joke. But it soon became clear that Netanyahu had nothing to do with the prank. In fact, it was the brainchild of an anonymous surfer who had set up a fake page that is almost identical to the Prime Minister's official account.
Everyone fell into this fine satirical trap. But let us, if only as an intellectual exercise, imagine such a situation, in which Netanyahu finds the courage to invite Israel's third-largest party into the government. After all, this is a 15- seat party, a huge section of the public that deserves to be taken seriously.
And this is a sector of the public that does not slink off, even if it is ignored and harassed, and certainly insulted in every possible way. This is a community that - believe it or not - is largely peace-loving and wants the best for a democratic Israel. But it will not remain so forever.
And so, a portfolio, and at once. Not five ministries, based on a premise of one portfolio per three seats, but just one. But which one? Of course one cannot give Ayman Odeh a senior or sensitive portfolio - he's an Arab. Perhaps tourism? Agriculture? Welfare?
Maybe just invent a ministry? "The Minister for Pharmacies and Rattan Furniture", for example. Or better still, the Minister for Arab Affairs, for that would be the most understandable. The best case scenario? Minister without portfolio, so he has no way of sneaking in a bomb. What's the matter? It's just a joke; we're laughing with you, not at you!
But "hilarity" aside, this is an issue that has a place in public discourse, and not just for a fleeting, rather unpleasant moment. It is an issue that we Israeli Jews prefer to chronically deny: The situation of the Israeli Arabs who live among us, and the offensive attitude of the establishment and the society, which only becomes more extreme.
For decades we have looked through Israel's Arabs, but they are not as transparent as air or a soap bubble, but more akin to reinforced glass. The hedonistic and racist Jewish society is rushing toward this glass at tremendous speed, and a collision is inevitable for as long as the concept of an "Arab minister" is seen only as a successful April Fools' hoax.
For in the end, the joke will be on us all.
