The coronavirus’ social impact on Israeli Arabs
We are still very much in the throes of the novel coronavirus and no one knows when we will come out of this situation or when we will be able to safely say that corona is behind us. The impact of the coronavirus is felt in so many realms of our lives; first and foremost we feel the impact in the health and economic sectors, but the social impact has also been tremendous.
Ironically, it has taken this invisible enemy, the coronavirus – also known as COVID19 – to unite the various sectors of Israeli society. The national struggle in Israel against the deadly enemy has succeeded in doing what we have not: it has brought Israeli-Arabs closer to the society at large, it has brought about a feeling of belonging to the country and has lead to a new spirit in Israeli society as a whole. Corona has smacked us across the face to realize that our destinies are shared.
To be sure, the integration process already began before the advent of the coronavirus. The Jewish People Policy Institute published a poll in April 2020 indicating that this process was already underway. Of the participants, 74% of those asked identified themselves as Israeli-Arabs or Israelis, while only 7% of those polled identified themselves as Palestinian. Compare those numbers to last year’s poll, in which 53% of those asked identified as Israeli-Arabs or Israelis.
There is no doubt that since the advent of the coronavirus in Israel, Israeli-Arabs feel more integrated and connected to the country than ever before. On the eve of Independence Day this year, the Israel Democracy Institute published a survey in which people were asked “to what degree do you feel a part of the State of Israel and its problems?” In the Arab sector the results show that about 77% answered that they feel “very much connected” for the country or “very connected.” These answers exhibit the highest feelings of connection and integration in the decade and in comparison with the decade between 2014-2019, the number of Israeli-Arabs expressing feelings of integration was between 35%-62%.
In the battle against corona, Israeli-Arabs were not missing from the battlefront. In hospitals, Magen David Adom and numerous organizations, Israeli-Arabs combated the virus. They worked and volunteered alongside their Jewish
compatriots against the coronavirus, a disease which does not differentiate between religion or nationality. There are many videos online from the intense corona weeks that give expression to this cooperation. In one social media video that went around we witness an Arab nurse in a hospital helping a sick elderly Jewish man put on his tefillin; in another a Muslim Arab volunteer, face wrapped in her hijab, was helping out in a day care center for Holocaust survivors. During the fast of Ramadan she prepared a BBQ for the residents on Independence Day.
There are many lessons on an individual level that one can learn from the coronavirus days, but there are also lessons that Israeli society must cull: social lessons. Despite the fact that Israeli society is comprised of a wide mosaic of people from diverse backgrounds, and despite many differences, complexities and challenges which we face as a society, we are all human, we are all Israelis and we all live here together facing the same threats. We need one another in order to build civic resilience.
Medical experts already cautioned us that corona is very contagious, but it seems to me that what is even more “contagious” is the virus’s ability to bring us all together, to overcome our many differences.
For the moment, it appears that the coronavirus is here to stay – at least for another while – and there are many victims: over 300 people have lost their lives and are mourned by their loved ones, over 30 people are in critical condition in hospitals, hundreds of thousands remain unemployed and many businesses have collapsed and closed their doors.
But there is one positive thing that has come to fruition, something that the passage of decades and efforts of leaders have been unable to achieve and that is bring Israeli-Arabs to integrate and participate in Israeli society as never before, to feel themselves to be an integral part of Israeli society. Now it is incumbent upon us as a society – it is the responsibility of us all – to ensure that this continues well after the corona days, to a time when the virus is recorded as a chapter in history.
The writer is CEO of the nonprofit organization Together – Vouch For Each Other.