Israel is slipping deeper and deeper into an apartheid state.
That’s what he says Aida Tuma-Sulimana Palestinian woman who serves as a member of parliament in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. interviewed Tuma-Suliman via video call in October.
Israel has introduced harsh measures against its Palestinian citizens after the attack by the extremist organization Hamas. Israel justifies this with security.
In this story, we tell you how the lives of Palestinian Israeli citizens have changed under the pressure of the war in Gaza and the radical right-wing government of Israel.
Since the war broke out, many Palestinians have lost study– or their workplace or have been arrested, for example, because of anti-war social media posts. Israeli authorities interpret such statements as support for Hamas.
Tuma-Suliman has condemned the attack by Hamas. Still, he has received accusations of supporting terrorism and even threatening messages.
A year ago Tuma-Suliman expelled from the Knesset for “false accusations about the army” for two months. He had criticized Israel for bombing al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.
– In the only democracy in the Middle East, 20 percent of the population is not allowed to speak, Tuma-Suliman said at the time.
Who are the Palestinians of Israel?
About a fifth of Israel’s population, or about 1.5 million people, are Arabs.
In 1945, less than 70 percent of the inhabitants of historical Palestine were Arabs and about 30 percent Jews. At that time, the area was ruled by Britain.
Israel declared independence in 1948, after which war broke out between it and the Arab countries. About 750,000 Palestinians had to flee the area.
About 150,000 Palestinians remained in the territory of present-day Israel. They were granted Israeli citizenship. They and their descendants are Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are registered as residents of the city, but most do not have Israeli citizenship. Israel has illegally annexed the territory it occupied in 1967.
Regardless of citizenship, Palestinians have faced discrimination in Israeli society even before the attack by Hamas.
For example, in 2018, the Knesset passed a law defining Israel as a Jewish state. Among other things, the law weakened the position of the Arabic language in the country.
Tuma-Suliman says that now Palestinians have started to be treated like terrorism suspects. For example, demonstrations was banned for months in the Arab cities of Israel. At the same time, hundreds of thousands were allowed to march in Tel Aviv.
A year ago in October, the Knesset loosened gun laws, and hundreds of thousands of Israelis have applied for a permit to carry a gun.
The minister of national security, who has been convicted of terrorism and hate crimes, is responsible for gun laws Itamar Ben-Gvir. Among other things, he has called on soldiers to shoot women and children in Gaza and said that Palestinian prisoners should be shot.
All this has created an atmosphere of fear among the Palestinian population.
– Israelis are traumatized and afraid, and a large part of the Jewish population is armed. Guns can be carried in cinemas, restaurants, on the streets and on trains. And we Palestinians are suspects, says Tuma-Suliman.
Discriminatory laws
Well-known human rights organizations such as Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli B’Tselem call the Israeli regime in the occupied Palestinian territories apartheid. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) also reached its conclusion to the same result in its policy in May.
According to Tuma-Suliman, Israel’s policy is beginning to meet the definition of apartheid even within its own borders.
– We can talk about apartheid when two different groups live under the same government and are governed by different laws. In addition, we can talk about apartheid when the state discriminates against one part of the population and offers supremacy to another group, says Tuma-Suliman.
According to him, there are very discriminatory laws in Israel that favor Jews and prevent the realization of Arab rights. Israeli law and policy lead to two different levels of citizenship.
In November The Israeli parliament passed the lawwhich allows the Interior Ministry to deport relatives of terrorist perpetrators to Gaza, even if they are Israeli citizens.
Already in February 2023 the government pushed through a law under which those convicted of terrorism can be stripped of their Israeli citizenship.
These laws effectively do not apply to Israeli Jews who commit attacks or other crimes against Palestinians.
Tuma-Suliman states that the Arabs are the largest group in Israel that opposes the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the war in Gaza. Therefore, their voices are silenced.
Israeli Human Rights Organization Adalah says that the authorities interpret anti-war social media posts as spreading online hatred. For example, the publication of quotations taken from the Koran has in many cases been enough to arrest Palestinians.
– Yes, we can condemn the attack by Hamas. If we take a stand on anything else, such as the famine and oppression in Gaza, it will be interpreted as supporting Hamas and terrorism, says Tuma-Suliman.
The racism Arabs face has become more and more open. According to Adalah, hate speech against Palestinians has gone largely unpunished.
“This is not a war on terror”
The difficult position of Arabs in society is also reflected in the Knesset.
Arab parties have ten representatives in the 120-seat Knesset. They represent the opposition, a people whose mass destruction, according to Tuma-Suliman, Israel is carrying out in Gaza.
Tuma-Suliman has been a member of the Knesset since 2015.
– As a representative of the minority, we have an obligation to protect our own people. This sometimes feels hopeless, says Tuma-Suliman.
– If I can influence the fact that the fascist bill passes as less harmful, that’s already something.
According to Tuma-Suliman, the events of the last year have nothing to do with Israel’s security.
– This is not a war against terrorism. This is a war against the Palestinians.