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Here’s the Truth About How Israel Treats Its Arab Citizens
A general view picture shows part of Givat Hamatos, an area near eastern Jerusalem, November 15, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun.
The media has reported that Palestinians in the West Bank (85%) and Gaza (52%) support Hamas’ October 7th actions. However, there has been less mention of the attitudes of the almost two million Arab living in Israel and East Jerusalem. More troubling, the little that has been mentioned, gives a false view of their estrangement from the state, ignoring the strong evidence that they are more sympathetic to the current plight of their Jewish neighbors than reported.
Recently, Ragjad Jaraisy and Ofer Dagam, directors of Sikkuy-Aufoq, an Israeli NGO doing constructive work in the Arab sector, pointed to the current risks Arab citizens face. They mentioned systemic discrimination and the repression experienced after the October 7th massacre:
A Palestinian doctor was suspended from his position, Palestinian students at colleges and universities have been punished, and other people have been arrested for social media posts that were often simply misunderstood by those who don’t speak Arabic.
As to the Gaza civilian casualties, they stated that Arab citizens “are connected by family ties, language, culture and history to their fellow Palestinians in Gaza — while living, working and studying side-by-side with Jewish Israelis in the very country that caused their people’s misfortune.” (emphasis added)
Unfortunately, Jaraisy and Dagan projected their mistaken beliefs onto Arab citizens. Survey data demonstrated that the war has brought Arab citizens closer to the Israeli state. For each year, 2016-2022, the share of Arab citizens who felt a part of Israel fluctuated between 39% and 43%. But directly after the Hamas attack, it increased to 70%; and even during November as the death and destruction in Gaza mounted, it only declined to 65%. This positive assessment was largest among Druze respondents (80%), followed by Christians (73%), and Muslims (62%). Indeed, the only subgroup for which it was less than 60% was those who voted for the ultra-nationalist Balad party (43%).
At the eight-week mark of the IDF offensive, a survey indicated that a minority of Arabs held the IDF solely responsible for the harm to Gazan civilians. Among Muslims, 60% held the IDF and Hamas equally responsible with 15.5% holding the IDF solely responsible, compared to 12% who held Hamas solely responsible. This reflected the fact that among Balad supporters, none held Hamas solely responsible but 29% held the IDF solely responsible. Among Christians and Druze, more than three times as many held Hamas solely responsible as those holding the IDF solely responsible.
Over the next five months, as war continued without an IDF victory or the return of more hostages, attitudes are interesting. An April survey asked, “Who has come off better in the war in Gaza — Israel or Hamas?” More Arab respondents think that Hamas, rather than Israel, has gained the upper hand (20% versus 14%, respectively). One-quarter thought both equally but 41% didn’t know. Interestingly, the only other group that thought Hamas had gained the upper hand were left-wing Jews (29% to 25.5%).
What Jaraisy and Dagan and others refuse to admit is that substantial improvements in the lives of Arab citizens have led them to be more willing to separate themselves from the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. This is most illustrated by the improving situation of eastern Jerusalem Palestinians.
Mayor Nir Barkat changed decades of benign neglect by beginning to provide some needed reforms and improved services to eastern Jerusalem. Jerusalem’s new mayor, Moshe Lion, accelerated these changes. He began by cleaning up the streets and then improving basic infrastructure: the sidewalks, potholes in the streets, and community gardens. A particularly important improvement was made to the postal system. In 2010, postal services in eastern Jerusalem were barely functioning. A significant portion of the mail did not reach its destination, while much of what did arrive was delivered late. However, Leon added post offices, street signs, and house numbers, substantially improving service.
Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem have seen the benefits. Between 2010 and 2022, the share satisfied with garbage collection increased from 44% to 60%; with fire protection from 42% to 70%; and with ambulance responses from 46% to 59%. More than three-quarters of Arabs are satisfied with healthcare services, sewerage, water, and electricity.
Leon’s efforts also focused on providing an educational system that would prepare students for the matriculation exam (bagrut), required for entrance into Israeli colleges. This required switching away from the Jordanian curriculum that dominated the eastern Jerusalem educational system. No less than 32 educational institutions offering the Israeli system have been established since 2016. The effects on college enrollment have been dramatic. At the Hebrew University alone, 710 Arab students from eastern Jerusalem were studying in 2022, compared with only 36 five years earlier.
Arab women dominated this expansion. Leyla was sitting one morning with two friends in one of the cafés favored by college students. She does not cover her hair, but her two girlfriends were wearing hijabs. All three were studying at an academic college in the city. Asked what she liked the most about her studies, Leyla burst out laughing and said, “That as long as I study, my parents do not pressure me to get married.”
A major focus has been bringing jobs to eastern Jerusalem. The Silicon Wadi project will be one of the biggest public investments ever made in eastern Jerusalem. A total of 200,000 square meters will be devoted to high-tech businesses, 50,000 to hotels, and another 50,000 to commercial space. The project includes increased public transportation, green space, a new technical college for training “thousands of East Jerusalemites in advanced technology,” and incentives to “increase the integration of women in the workforce in the city’s East.”
Jerusalem City Council member Laura Wharton of the left-wing Meretz party said: “The thinking here now is to develop high-tech and other industries that will allow people from East Jerusalem to find employment in Jerusalem.” These are the reasons why in 2022, more eastern Jerusalem Palestinians preferred Israeli citizenship than living under the control of the Palestinian Authority; more than double the share five years earlier.
While eastern Jerusalem residents, as well as Arab citizens, still face significant obstacles, it is increasingly inaccurate to see them as victims of a repression that is squelching their desires to maintain solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. It is only an unwillingness to appreciate the positive government efforts that perpetuates false narratives.
Robert Cherry is an American Enterprise Institute affiliate and author of Arab Citizens of Israel: How Far They Have Come; How Much Further They Need to Go, to be released fall 2024.
The post Here’s the Truth About How Israel Treats Its Arab Citizens first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s Sharaa Says Talks With Israel Could Yield Results ‘In Coming Days’
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks at the opening ceremony of the 62nd Damascus International Fair, the first edition held since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, in Damascus, Syria, Aug. 27, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Wednesday that ongoing negotiations with Israel to reach a security pact could lead to results “in the coming days.”
He told reporters in Damascus the security pact was a “necessity” and that it would need to respect Syria’s airspace and territorial unity and be monitored by the United Nations.
Syria and Israel are in talks to reach an agreement that Damascus hopes will secure a halt to Israeli airstrikes and the withdrawal of Israeli troops who have pushed into southern Syria.
Reuters reported this week that Washington was pressuring Syria to reach a deal before world leaders gather next week for the UN General Assembly in New York.
But Sharaa, in a briefing with journalists including Reuters ahead of his expected trip to New York to attend the meeting, denied the US was putting any pressure on Syria and said instead that it was playing a mediating role.
He said Israel had carried out more than 1,000 strikes on Syria and conducted more than 400 ground incursions since Dec. 8, when the rebel offensive he led toppled former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
Sharaa said Israel’s actions were contradicting the stated American policy of a stable and unified Syria, which he said was “very dangerous.”
He said Damascus was seeking a deal similar to a 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria that created a demilitarized zone between the two countries.
He said Syria sought the withdrawal of Israeli troops but that Israel wanted to remain at strategic locations it seized after Dec. 8, including Mount Hermon. Israeli ministers have publicly said Israel intends to keep control of the sites.
He said if the security pact succeeds, other agreements could be reached. He did not provide details, but said a peace agreement or normalization deal like the US-mediated Abraham Accords, under which several Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalize diplomatic ties with Israel, was not currently on the table.
He also said it was too early to discuss the fate of the Golan Heights because it was “a big deal.”
Reuters reported this week that Israel had ruled out handing back the zone, which Donald Trump unilaterally recognized as Israeli during his first term as US president.
“It’s a difficult case – you have negotiations between a Damascene and a Jew,” Sharaa told reporters, smiling.
SECURITY PACT DERAILED IN JULY
Sharaa also said Syria and Israel had been just “four to five days” away from reaching the basis of a security pact in July, but that developments in the southern province of Sweida had derailed those discussions.
Syrian troops were deployed to Sweida in July to quell fighting between Druze armed factions and Bedouin fighters. But the violence worsened, with Syrian forces accused of execution-style killings and Israel striking southern Syria, the defense ministry in Damascus and near the presidential palace.
Sharaa on Wednesday described the strikes near the presidential palace as “not a message, but a declaration of war,” and said Syria had still refrained from responding militarily to preserve the negotiations.
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Anti-Israel Activists Gear Up to ‘Flood’ UN General Assembly
US Capitol Police and NYPD officers clash with anti-Israel demonstrators, on the day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC, July 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Anti-Israel groups are planning a wave of raucous protests in New York City during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) over the next several days, prompting concerns that the demonstrations could descend into antisemitic rhetoric and intimidation.
A coalition of anti-Israel activists is organizing the protests in and around UN headquarters to coincide with speeches from Middle Eastern leaders and appearances by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The demonstrations are expected to draw large crowds and feature prominent pro-Palestinian voices, some of whom have been criticized for trafficking in antisemitic tropes, in addition to calling for the destruction of Israe.
Organizers of the demonstrations have promoted the coordinated events on social media as an opportunity to pressure world leaders to hold Israel accountable for its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, with some messaging framed in sharply hostile terms.
On Sunday, for example, activists shouted at Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon.
“Zionism is terrorism. All you guys are terrorists committing ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza and Palestine. Shame on you, Zionist animals,” they shouted.
BREAKING: PRO-PALESTINE PROTESTORS CONFRONT “ISRAELI” AMBASSADOR DANNY DANON AT THE UNITED NATIONS
1/5 pic.twitter.com/4G1VYEMGzV
— Within Our Lifetime (@WOLPalestine) September 14, 2025
The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), warned on its website that the scale and tone of the planned demonstrations risk crossing the line from political protest into hate speech, arguing that anti-Israel activists are attempting to hijack the UN gathering to spread antisemitism and delegitimize the Jewish state’s right to exist.
Outside the UN last week, masked protesters belonging to the activist group INDECLINE kicked a realistic replica of Netanyahu’s decapitated head as though it were a soccer ball.
US activist group plays soccer with Bibi’s mock decapitated HEAD right outside NYC UN HQ
Peep shot at 00:40
Footage posted by INDECLINE collective just as UN General Assembly about to kick off
‘Following the game, ball was donated to Palestinian Genocide Museum’ pic.twitter.com/TQ84sgZhKr
— RT (@RT_com) September 9, 2025
Within Our Lifetime (WOL), a radical anti-Israel activist group, has vowed to “flood” the UNGA on behalf of the pro-Palestine movement.
WOL, one of the most prolific anti-Israel activist groups, came under immense fire after it organized a protest against an exhibition to honor the victims of the Oct. 7 massacre at the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel. During the event, the group chanted “resistance is justified when people are occupied!” and “Israel, go to hell!”
“We will be there to confront them with the truth: Their silence and inaction enable genocide. The world cannot continue as if Gaza does not exist,” WOL said of its planned demonstrations in New York. “This is the time to make our voices impossible to ignore. Come to New York by any means necessary, to stand, to march, to demand the UN act and end the siege.”
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), two other anti-Israel organizations that have helped organize widespread demonstrations against the Jewish state during the war in Gaza, also announced they are planning a march from Times Square to the UN headquarters on Friday.
“The time is now for each and every UN member state to uphold their duty under international law: sanction Israel and end the genocide,” the groups said in a statement.
JVP, an organization that purports to fight for “Palestinian liberation,” has positioned itself as a staunch adversary of the Jewish state. The group argued in a 2021 booklet that Jews should not write Hebrew liturgy because hearing the language would be “deeply traumatizing” to Palestinians. JVP has repeatedly defended the Oct. 7 massacre of roughly 1,200 people in southern Israel by Hamas as a justified “resistance.” Chapters of the organization have urged other self-described “progressives” to throw their support behind Hamas and other terrorist groups against Israel
Similarly, PYM, another radical anti-Israel group, has repeatedly defended terrorism and violence against the Jewish state. PYM has organized many anti-Israel protests in the two years following the Oct. 7 attacks in the Jewish state. Recently, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) called for a federal investigation into the organization after Aisha Nizar, one of the group’s leaders, urged supporters to sabotage the US supply chain for the F-35 fighter jet, one of the most advanced US military assets and a critical component of Israel’s defense.
The UN General Assembly has historically been a flashpoint for heated debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Previous gatherings have seen dueling demonstrations outside the Manhattan venue, with pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups both seeking to influence the international spotlight.
While warning about the demonstrations, CAM noted it recently launched a new mobile app, Report It, that allows users worldwide to quickly and securely report antisemitic incidents in real time.
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Nina Davidson Presses Universities to Back Words With Action as Jewish Students Return to Campus Amid Antisemitism Crisis
Nina Davidson on The Algemeiner’s ‘J100’ podcast. Photo: Screenshot
Philanthropist Nina Davidson, who served on the board of Barnard College, has called on universities to pair tough rhetoric on combatting antisemitism with enforcement as Jewish students returned to campuses for the new academic year.
“Years ago, The Algemeiner had published a list ranking the most antisemitic colleges in the country. And number one was Columbia,” Davidson recalled on a recent episode of The Algemeiner‘s “J100” podcast. “As a board member and as someone who was representing the institution, it really upset me … At the board meeting, I brought it up and I said, ‘What are we going to do about this?’”
Host David Cohen, chief executive officer of The Algemeiner, explained he had revisited Davidson’s remarks while she was being honored for her work at The Algemeiner‘s 8th annual J100 gala, held in October 2021, noting their continued relevance.
“It could have been the same speech in 2025,” he said, underscoring how longstanding concerns about campus antisemitism, while having intensified in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, are not new.
Davidson argued that universities already possess the tools to protect students – codes of conduct, time-place-manner rules, and consequences for threats or targeted harassment – but too often fail to apply them evenly. “Statements are not enough,” she said, arguing that institutions need to enforce their rules and set a precedent that there will be consequences for individuals who refuse to follow them.
She also said that stakeholders – alumni, parents, and donors – are reassessing their relationships with schools that, in their view, have not safeguarded Jewish students. While supportive of open debate, Davidson distinguished between protest and intimidation, calling for leadership that protects expression while ensuring campus safety.
The episode surveyed specific pressure points that administrators will face this fall: repeat anti-Israel encampments, disruptions of Jewish programming, and the challenge of distinguishing political speech from conduct that violates university rules. “Unless schools draw those lines now,” Davidson warned, “they’ll be scrambling once the next crisis hits.”
Cohen closed by framing the discussion as a test of institutional credibility, asking whether universities will “turn policy into protection” in real time. Davidson agreed, pointing to students who “need to know the rules aren’t just on paper.”
The full conversation is available on The Algemeiner’s “J100” podcast.