Sneak Peek: Tal Becker on the challenge of forming a coalition with Arabs parties

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0:57Welcome to Inside Call Me Back, our members-only edition, where we open the door and let you shape the conversation. Today in the hot seat addressing your questions and personal dilemmas is ARC Media contributor Tal Becker. Tal, welcome back to The Inside. Hey, Dan, good to be here. Noah from San Francisco, California. Tal writes, What makes the participation of an Arab party in a governing coalition so intolerable to the median Israeli Jewish voter? Ram, which is an Arab Muslim party, participated in the Bennett-Lapid coalition, meaning that he's referring to the last Israeli government. Did that reinforce specific concerns about Arab parties, hold a governing power, or did the arrangement function relatively normally despite the surrounding political controversy?

1:43Wow. Okay. Well, there's a lot to say here, but I think maybe we'll start by saying that the attitude towards Arab party participation in Israeli government coalition has actually fluctuated quite a bit over time. And I think before October 7th, and when there was negotiations about Rahm joining, and even the Netanyahu government is reported to have explored that option, I think there was more support. And after October 7th, a lot less support, but the numbers have shifted. So it's not consistent is the first thing I would say. The second thing is the question spoke about Raam, but also about Arab parties.

2:13So it's worth saying that traditionally and historically, most Arab parties have, first of all, ideologically not wanted to be part of an Israeli coalition. So the opposition hasn't come in one direction only. And second, they have traditionally been non-Zionist or anti-Zionist in their posture, which has made it really hard to imagine joining of them in the coalition. With respect to Raam, in particular, and Mansour Abbas, I mean, this is a contentious issue, but Mansour Abbas, I think, has demonstrated in the view of many Israelis quite a lot of courage in the way he has been willing to talk about Israel as a Jewish state and Israel's Palestinian Arab citizens as deserving of things, but not undoing that structure.

2:52But still, it's an Islamist party and there are questions that are raised around their agenda. The core issue, if I had to describe it, I think beyond whether they're actually committed to the project of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, which has kind of hovered over this historically and made Ra 'am the actual first party in Israeli history to be part of a coalition. The broader issue is Israel's security challenges, I think. Israel is, in fact, in a conflict with, obviously, a lot around the region. And to be able to make really difficult security decisions when potentially a party that could break the coalition is there with real concerns about this conflict at all, it's been a real issue.

3:34And after October 7th, I think a very significant number of Israeli Jews basically feel at the moment like it's an untenable kind of proposition. Because if you need to take serious military action, whether in Gaza, in Judea and Samaria, or in the Arab world, but you need in order to do that the consent of an Arab party whose constituents, maybe its family members and so on, are really implicated in a very different way, that's going to be a really, really difficult thing to do. And the question spoke about the Bennett-Lapid coalition. To some extent, I mean, it was a story of success and a real effort to have diversity.

4:07But I think we also saw two things there. The first was how difficult it was to hold a coalition together with this broad spectrum of views. And it led to real political tension and defections. And it was a key factor, I think, in the Bennett-Lapid government not surviving. And there were obviously a lot of issues about Bennett's actual decision to include them with Lapid. And the second point, of course, was that in the lead up to that government, there was the May 21, if you recall, violence in Gaza that spread to mixed cities, and it became unbelievably tense situation. And Rahm had to kind of suspend its engagement with those coalition negotiations.

4:44If I remember, I think in May 2022, there was violence on the Al-Aqsa mosque, and Rahm suspended its participation. And as a result of that, like the Israeli Jewish public saw, this is a party that's going to have a hard time being part of this effort. And now after October 7, where we've been engaged in this really horrific, tragic war, fighting off enemies, Israeli Jews don't feel they have the luxury to do that. Now, I would just finally say, aspirationally, I think, you know, I often talk about Israel, we have a sovereign state, we really would like to have a sovereign state of mind. Obviously, we would love to live in a reality where we can have these kind of broad coalitions.

5:23And I think it's, it is a more Zionist position, aspirationally, to hope to be able to bridge and make sure that Arab Israeli, Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel feel that they can be participants, not just in equality of their citizens, but also in government. But we also have to acknowledge these fundamental tensions. And as long as there are these tensions and contradictions, it's going to be a real challenge to persuade Israeli Jews that this is an easy thing to do. Okay. Millie from Washington, D.C. Thank you, Dan, and the art team for your excellent work these past few years. Your show doesn't reach only far and wide, but also deep.

5:57I work in government and Call Me Back is often cited by officials here in D.C. My question is, how does Israeli law address the separation of church and state, quote unquote, if at all? That is a big question. And I think Millie means synagogue and state in Israel. So, Sal? I don't know why it has to be this way, Dan, but I don't think there's an area of Israel that isn't complicated and hard to explain, but this certainly fits in that category. Yeah. That's why we have you on, Tal. I don't want to have to answer these very difficult questions. Right. We'll leave Michigan to you and I'll do the Israel stuff.

6:36Right. So first of all, just some basics. Israel has no formal constitution. So there isn't like the establishment clause like you have in the U.S. Constitution. And there isn't like a single legal document that regulates this issue. I would say if I had to give it a sentence, it's a kind of hybrid situation where Israel is kind of stronger on freedom of religion than it is on freedom from religion. in the sense that there's a real role for religious authorities in Israeli society, in particular on personal status issues. I would say the core things to know are, number one, that issues related to personal status, by which I mean like marriage, divorce, conversion, to some extent burial, they are basically governed by the religious authorities of different denominations.

7:22So there'll be Sharia courts, there'll be Christian denominations and courts, Druze courts, and Orthodox courts. And I think that's a big issue within the Jewish world in general, that the monopoly over personal status issues, religious issues for Jews is the rabbinate and the Orthodox denomination. And that, I think, has raised a whole host of issues. So that triggers, first of all, the issue of having a civil or non-religious marriage domestically is not a recognized thing. And it also makes Reform and conservative Jews, for example, kind of feel like they are second class in the way that religious authorities treat them, and that Israel, because of the monopoly of the Orthodox, doesn't feel as much as a home for Reform and Conservative and other denominations of Jews.

8:08There's a second aspect of this, which is what's called the status quo, which is a kind of de facto de jure agreement reached initially in 1947 between Ben-Gurion and the Orthodox, ultra-Orthodox parties, which basically said that, yes, Israel would be a largely secular public sphere, but there would be certain restrictions on Shabbat, state institutions would have to be kosher, and this kind of balance. And that balance is sometimes tested and can be quite controversial. Interestingly, I think most Israelis probably support more equal status, for example, for Jewish denominations, but that's never what an election is about.

8:45So it's very rare that we kind of bring that issue up. It does make me want to say one last thing maybe about this, Dan, and that is that I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about what we mean by the term Jewish state. And a lot of people, especially non-Jews, think that we're talking about the degree to which the Jewish religion is involved in the state. That phrase, Jewish state, means that it's the mainstream understanding of that. It's the state where the Jewish people realize their right to self-determination. And the Jewish bit in terms of the way in which religious authorities play a role in Israel, and that's Israel doesn't have an established religion, right?

9:18It has lots of different religions for different groups, obviously, because the majority is Jewish. The rabbinate plays a role for the majority. But in that sense, it's not particularly unique. Lots of other democracies have dominant religions that play a dominant role in their societies. But this issue of, you know, there is controversy around this question of civil and non-religious personal status options within Israel and the dominance of the ravenants. That's it for our sneak peek today. If you want to catch the full episode, please subscribe to Inside Call Me Back by following the link in the description or by going to arkmedia.org.

9:55That's arkmedia.org. Your support is what allows us to do what we do here at Ark Media. I hope to see you there.

10:13Thank you.