Point of Contact: Sara Gunning, Director of International Relations Address: P.O. Box 4471, Haifa 31043, Israel Tel: +485-55-901972 Fax: +972-04-8552772 Email: [email protected] Web: www.mossawa.org The Mossawa Center’s Briefing Paper on Human Rights for Arab Citizens in Israel: Discrimination Against the Arab Minority in Israel January 2018 The Mossawa Center is pleased to publish this report for the international community. This paper provides a concise update on the key developments and ongoing discrepancies in the civil, political, socioeconomic, and cultural status of the Arab minority in Israel. Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 2 Incidents of racism against Arab citizens .................................................................................. 2 Education ................................................................................................................................... 3 Media and the Press ................................................................................................................... 6 Pending and Current Discriminatory and Anti-Democratic Legislation ................................... 8 Discriminatory Budget Allocations ......................................................................................... 11 Employment Issues and Poverty ............................................................................................. 12 Land Discrimination ................................................................................................................ 15 Attempts to Quell Arab Demonstrators, Police Brutality, and Racially-instigated Terrorist Acts .......................................................................................................................................... 17 Respect for Political Rights ..................................................................................................... 18 Discrimination in Business and Tourism ................................................................................ 20 Cultural Rights ........................................................................................................................ 20 Expression and Incitement on the Internet .............................................................................. 21 Freedom of Movement ............................................................................................................ 24 Right to Health ........................................................................................................................ 25 Outlawing Islamic Institutions ................................................................................................ 26 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 27 Annex 1 ................................................................................................................................... 28 Annex 2 ................................................................................................................................... 31 Introduction The Arab Palestinian minority in Israel amounts to 20% of the country's population. Despite this, the hegemonic powers of the state and the exclusionary forces in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‟s administration have continued to systematically discriminate against the Arab community and its elected representatives. This discrimination manifests itself in many distinct categories of daily life for Arab citizens in Israel, many of whom face systemic and disproportionate obstacles that negatively impact their experience as a minority group in Israel. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation (OECD) has found significant differences in well-being outcomes between the Jewish and the Arab population in Israel. Income inequality is very high in the country, despite the overall poverty rate being in decline since 2009: this is especially striking when considering levels and trends of poverty among different population groups. The most recent data show that the total poverty rate was 23.5% in Israel: this belies the disproportionate distribution of wealth across ethnic boundaries in Israel. Only 15.5% of Jews were poor, whilst over half of all Arab citizens in Israel – 57.9% - are living in poverty. The OECD has concluded from its findings that Israel needs to boost its human capital, currently significantly below the OECD average, mostly due to the low labour market participation amongst Arabs and other minority communities.1 Improving the social mobility and economic well-being of Arab citizens in Israel would thus not only inevitably increase the relative well-being of the population, but the economic health of the country overall. Incidents of racism against Arab citizens Between March 2015 and March 2016, there were 465 reported incidents of racism, almost double the number documented over the previous year (237). Of these, 311 were directed at the Arab community. These include racist actions by elected representatives, state and academic institutions, businesses, organizations, the media and members of the public. 2 Included in these incidents of racism against Arab citizens is the continued racial profiling at Ben Gurion airport. Several lawsuits are currently pending against the airport for racial profiling leading to degrading treatment of Arab citizens attempting to travel into or from the airport.3 The most recent elections in Israel saw an increase in racist rhetoric and incitement from many politicians, often invoked in order to gain votes. One of the most egregious of these statements came from Prime Minister Netanyahu himself. The Prime Minister made a short video telling the Israeli people that “The Arabs are coming out to vote in droves.”4 The statement suggested that Jewish Israeli voters must go out and vote for Likud in order to 1 OECD, (2016), „Measuring and Assessing Well-being in Israel‟ 2Mossawa Racism Report, Retrieved from: http://mossawa.org/en/article/view/534. 3Channel 2, http://reshet.tv/Shows/The_System/videomarklist,242911/. 4Tharoor, I, (2015, March 17), „On Israeli election day, Netanyahu warns of Arabs voting „in droves‟, The Washington Post 2 protect themselves from the “droves” of Arab voters.5 Many world leaders and activists expressed concern at this overtly racist attitude towards 20% of the Israeli population. Then- President Obama came out against Netanyahu‟s statement calling it "cynical" and "divisive."6 Other politicians engage in a similarly racist rhetoric. MK Bezalel Smotrich, for example, went so far as to justify segregation in maternity wards, saying “he doesn't want his wife lying next to a woman whose baby will murder her child in another 20 years.”7 Despite the fact that such inflammatory rhetoric has led to violence on the part of police officers and citizens, political and religious leaders face no legal repercussions for these statements. This is in stark contrast to the suspension of three Arab MKs to between two and four month periods for meeting the families of those killed carrying out attacks against Israeli citizens. MKs Basel Ghattas, Haneen Zoabi and Jamal Zakalka met with the families as part of a campaign conducted by the families and human rights groups seeking the return of the bodies of those killed for burial.8 In May 2016, Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed MK Avigdor Lieberman to the position of Minister of Defense. Many people, including local media, see Lieberman as a controversial figure for the racist and incisive statements he continuously makes against Palestinians and other Arabs, including suggesting that Arab MKs should be tried as in Nuremberg and describing the killer of an incapacitated Palestinian assailant as a “hero”. He is also well known for continuing to question the loyalty of Palestinian citizens of Israel, and has campaigned to make them sign a loyalty pledge or have their citizenship revoked.9 Education Structural discrimination persistently threatens the education of Arab citizens in Israel. The Israeli school system separates students on the basis of race and religion. While this caters to linguistic needs, it also lends itself to discrimination.10 Such discrimination only serves to exacerbate pre-existing inequalities that are the result of decades of state policies that have disrupted growth in Arab communities in Israel. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) and the Ministry of Education, most of the students in the Arab sector come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. In fact, an alarming two thirds of Arab students come from families living below the poverty line, as compared to one third of students nation- wide. 11 One might attribute this to the relatively low levels of education in the Arab community, as opposed to the Jewish community. Among the latter, aged fifteen and over, 84% have completed elementary school. Among Arabs in the same group, only 37% have finished elementary school.12 The percentage of Bedouin students studying in institutions of higher education is especially low, with those between the ages of 18-27 in higher education 5 ibid. 6 Lewis, P and Yuhas, A, (2015, March 18), „Obama snubs Binyamin Netanyahu and criticizes Israel PM‟s „divisive rhetoric‟‟, The Guardian 7Lis, J, (2016, April 5), „Israeli Lawmaker: My Wife Wouldn‟t Want to Give Birth Next to an Arab Woman‟,