Whither Israeli Arabs?

Many people are not aware that Arabs make up a fifth of Israel's population. Sixteen percent of Israel's population is Muslim (almost two percent of Israels's Arabs are Christian, the rest are something else). Almost all are Muslims and some members of the Knesset are Israeli-Arab Muslims. The number of Arabs in Israel is growing, relative to the Jews, because Arab parents have more children than the Jewish parents. In fact, at current growth rates of Jews and Arabs in Israel, Arabs could become a numerical majority by mid-century, maybe sooner.

Until yesterday, Hezbollah had a word for Israeli Arabs: "targets." Hezbollah rockets have struck Arab neighborhoods in Haifa, killing Arab Israelis. However, yesterday Hezbollah chief terrorist Hassan Nasrallah,

... warned all Israeli Arabs to leave the port city of Haifa so the militant group could step up attacks without fear of shedding the blood of fellow Muslims.

Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, has been the frequent target of Hezbollah's rocket attacks.

"I have a special message to the Arabs of Haifa, to your martyrs and to your wounded. I call on you to leave this city. I hope you do this. ... Please leave so we don't shed your blood, which is our blood," Nasrallah said.

It's worth noting that Israeli forces warn everyone in the Lebanese combat zone to leave to avoid being killed, but Nasrallah wants the Jews to stay in Haifa precisely so he can kill them.

Israeli news reporter and Arab, Riad Ali, says that in the name of Allah,

This is the time to address the Arab citizens of Israel, and tell them that the time has come for them to decide where they stand. And they should do so for their own sake, and not for the sake of the Jews. For the sake of the values they want to instill in their children. For the sake of retaining their intellectual dignity. It is clear to all that a Hamas-led Palestinian government and a Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon will not bring democratic societies with a flourishing political and social pluralism. It is clear that in regimes such as those, the rule of law, human rights, the freedom of religion and worship, women's rights, the freedom of creation, the freedom of movement, the freedom of expression and thought - all will be alien, ridiculed concepts, to say the least.

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