An Arab woman walks past photographs of Israelis still held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, in Tel Aviv. April 8, 2024. Photo by Miriam Alster/FLASH90
A new survey published on Wednesday revealed that a majority of Arab-Israelis (57.8%) feel a closer affinity with the Jewish-Israeli majority population. The survey was conducted by the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation at Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center.
The survey results suggested a growing sense among Arab Israelis of a shared destiny with Jewish Israelis. This trend appears to have intensified since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre of over 1,200 Israelis last year, including Arab and Muslim Israelis.
In June 51.5% of Arab Israelis held this view and in November 2023, a whopping 69.8% of Arab Israelis said they believed the Oct. 7 attack undermined the societal bonds between Arab and Jews in Israel.
Dr. Arik Rudnitzky, the project manager for the Jewish-Arab Cooperation program, believes the ongoing war has brought the Arab-Israeli minority closer to the Jewish-Israeli majority.
“It appears, however, that under the dark shadow cast by the war over all citizens of Israel, both Arabs and Jews, meaningful bright spots are emerging that could redefine the rules of the game in the post-war era,” Rudnitzky assessed.
“The upheavals and turbulence in the Middle East in recent months…have boosted the Arab citizens’ appreciation for their Israeli citizenship,” Rudnitzky argued, adding that this changed reality has shaped a “sense of shared destiny” between Arabs and Jews in Israel.
According to the survey results, the majority of Arab Israelis embrace a growing integration into mainstream Israeli society but the reality is complex.
While over half of Arab Israelis reported feeling a closer affinity with Jewish Israelis, only 17.4% indicated that their connection to the State of Israel had strengthened as a result of the war.
On the other hand, the report revealed that Israeli citizenship has emerged as the most important component of the complex Arab Israeli identity.
Nearly 34% of Arab Israelis said their Israeli identity was the most important component while only 9% view their Palestinian-Arab identity as the most important aspect of their identity. In addition, 29.2% of Arab Israelis prioritize their religious identity over their national and ethnic identity.
Numbering around two million people, Arab Israelis – consisting of Muslims, Christians and Arabic-speaking Druze – constitute around 20% of Israel’s total population.
Druze Israeli and Bedouin Israeli IDF soldiers have played a crucial role in defending the Jewish state against the Iranian-backed terror proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
While military service is compulsory for most Jewish Israelis, a small minority of Arab Israelis currently serve in the IDF. In September, Muslim IDF Officer Hisham Abu Raya reported that Arab Israelis are increasingly joining the IDF voluntarily.
“On October 7, the penny dropped among Arab-Israelis. They saw that Hamas opened fire on everyone, and did not distinguish between Jewish and Muslim citizens,” Raya said .
“And there are still Muslim hostages in the hands of Hamas. It was the same during the 2006 Second Lebanon War – nearly half of the civilian victims in Israel were Arabs. Rockets don’t distinguish between Moshe and Ali.”
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