Good Morning to Yair Lapid

05/03/19

"Good morning to Yair Lapid – 14,000 citizens are calling on you to stop playing into the de-legitimization of the Arab parties! Do not give in to the Kahanist spin! Do not disqualify Arab parties from running to the Knesset!"

This is what Yair Lapid heard yesterday morning. We came to his house to demand he won't let the spin of the extreme right succeed: Kahane's racial supremacism has nothing in common with the demand for equality of the Balad-Raam and Hadash-Taal parties. On the contrary: a Jewish-Arab partnership in the Knesset is the answer to the cynical, anti-democratic move of the Likud trying to build a majority with the help of Kahane's followers.

24 hours before the critical discussion of the Central Elections Committee, we delivered a clear message to the center-left parties: Jewish-Arab partnership is the moral and strategic way to fight the extreme right wing.

Our action yesterday morning in front of Lapid's house is just another step in our elections campaigning – our actions targeting different candidates is already in full speed. Last week, Zazim members went to house meetings with different candidates: to Yael German and Orna Barbivai in Herzliya, to Yair Lapid in Ness Ziona. They caught Asaf Zamir of Kahol-Lavan party on the street, met with Ayman Odeh in Jerusalem and Orly Levy-Abekasis in Tel Aviv. All of the candidates heard the same two questions from us: 1. Will you be part of a Jewish-Arab bloc in the Knesset? And 2. How do you plan to end the occupation?

We know that it is only through a Jewish-Arab partnership that we will be able to introduce a real alternative to extreme nationalism and Kahanism. And it is only due to the tremendous contribution of the people in our community – our dozens of members who have met with the candidates, shared our videos on WhatsApp and social networks, and donated funds toward our campaigns – that we have been able to do all that.

The upcoming elections are our test as a movement. When the parties are busy getting elected, we look at the bigger picture of what kind of a future we are building. We will continue to be the voice calling to end the occupation, and we will build a future where Arabs and Jews can live in equality, side by side. And we are doing this together. Thank you for being part of our movement.