The Arab and Jewish Israelis who believe peace is still possible

BEN LYNFIELD talks to members of Standing Together, a Jewish-Arab endeavour trying to reignite hope among those in despair at Israel’s new extreme-Right government.

As Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu crafts coalition agreements that will likely result in the most right-wing, anti-Arab government in Israeli history, what's left of the Left is anxious and despairing.

The main left-wing Zionist party, Meretz, after three decades in the Knesset, failed to pass the minimum threshold. Its backers are in free fall. Likewise, the Palestinian nationalist Balad party. The leaders of the Labour party and centrist Yesh Atid seem to be spending much of their energy blaming each other for the electoral catastrophe.

Moreover, unabashed racists are set to take up key portfolios as Netanyahu allies prepare to wind back democratic aspects of the Israeli state such as Supreme Court oversight. The likely new Internal Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is surging in popularity while calling for the expulsion of "disloyal" citizens, including Arab leaders. Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, has plans for ratcheting up pressure on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

But amid this bleak landscape, there is a group on the Left that aspires to hit back. Standing Together, a flourishing grass roots Jewish-Arab endeavour, is already hard at work planning the downfall of Netanyahu and the far Right - as unlikely and unattainable as this may currently seem.

From its creation six years ago, the group's working assumption has been that Arabs and Jews can and must work together to advance peace, equality and social justice. Since the election, the group has held 11 meetings in its chapters across the country to discuss how to address the daunting new situation. It has gained hundreds of new members, increasing its ranks to about 4000 people, according to its leaders.

"The meetings are an outreach to give people hope," Sally Abed, 31, a member of the elected national leadership told The Jewish Independent. "We don't want people to fall into despair."

In recent years, Standing Together activists have worked on raising the minimum wage, making housing more affordable, and most recently, encouraging Arab citizens to vote. Their tactics range from street demonstrations to sponsoring workshops to lobbying Knesset members. In the minimum wage campaign, they were able to enlist backing from MKs of the ultra-orthodox Shas party.

In 2022, the organisation's activists opposed forced displacement of Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, and in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. It also campaigned on climate issues, urging a "Green New Deal for Israel".

The question now is whether the group, funded partly by the New Israel Fund, can generate enough people power and energy to begin to put some spokes in the wheels of the emerging government. Sceptics say that Netanyahu has a stable majority in the Knesset that could enable him simply to ignore Standing Together.

"Why should the powers that be listen to them?" asked veteran political and strategic commentator Yossi Alpher, who writes a column for American Friends of Peace Now.

"The basic problem is that the public is right-wing. It doesn't believe in a peace process or buy the agenda of Left or even centrist parties," he told The Jewish Independent. Still, Alpher credited Standing Together for "being a step ahead."

"The others on the Left are just in a state of shock," he added.

Despite the hardships, Alon-Lee Green, founding co-director, is convinced the group can emerge as an important alternative voice. In 2011, he was a leading organiser of large social protests in Israeli cities that emerged shortly after the Arab Spring demonstrations in Arab capitals. These protests raised hopes but ultimately did not produce structural change. Green is convinced Standing Together can step in now, grow and mobilise people in the current high-stakes environment.

"We are talking about the most extreme government Israel has ever had and we know what these leaders will do because we know their past," Green told The Jewish Independent.

"We expect vicious attacks on minorities, on Arab citizens, against the LGBTQ community, against women's rights such as abortion and getting a divorce. We also expect attacks on other minorities within the Jewish majority."

What emerged from the group's recent meetings, he said, is that "we stand together. We do not let any community face those attacks alone, we build a wide coalition of people demanding equality. Our message is that this country is home for all of us." By contrast, Ben-Gvir campaigned that Jews are the "masters" of the country.

"We will focus on social and economic issues. Let's see Netanyahu and his tycoons give answers to the public," Green said. Standing Together will "defend the Palestinians in Israel and under occupation."

If, as is expected, the government legalises a large number of settlement outposts built in violation of Israeli and international law, "we will talk about the violence coming from these outposts and that the government is putting its money into three [settler] families [on an outpost], not putting its money into housing in Sderot and Ashkelon".

Abed, who comes from Mi’ilya village, near the Lebanese border, says Standing Together intends to make clear to the public that Netanyahu and his allies are working against their interests. “We have an opportunity in that we will be running social campaigns. We are going to reignite our livable wage campaign.

“We are going to use our chapters and campus groups on a national campaign for housing. We are going to hit the government where it hurts and create a conflict between the government and those who voted for it."

On housing, the effort will be diverse, focusing on unrecognised Bedouin villages, rent control in Tel Aviv and combatting home demolitions in vulnerable Arab areas. "You make it apparent that the government is not doing its job and when there is an opportunity, you take it," she said, adding that the group draws on models of campaigning from abroad and from the Jewish settler movement.

Abed said the recent electoral victory of Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva in Brazil over Jair Bolsinaro provides a "fascinating example" of how the Left can make a comeback against a far-Right government.

Thabet Abu Rass, co-director of the Abraham Fund Initiatives, which aims to promote coexistence, praised Standing Together. "I think they can have influence. Every active movement can really help. The challenge in the Left is that activists are not there anymore.

“The only organisation seriously working is Ben-Gvir's party and several right-wing organisations. No-one is really working with young people."

But despite this daunting and fear-provoking context, he added: "Standing Together is doing a great job in bringing Arabs and Jews together and expanding over time."

Main photo: Demonstration by Standing Together