“All Its Citizens”: Meet the Leaders of Israel’s New Jewish-Arab Party

“Over the years, there have been Jewish parties that involved Arabs, and Arab parties that involved Jews. But there has never [before] been a party equally led by Jews and Arabs together, for Israel and all its citizens.”

This was the message we heard on a June 7 webinar from Prof. Faisal Azaiza, co-founder and co-chair of the new Arab-Jewish party, “All Its Citizens”. Partners for Progressive Israel was honored to host Prof. Azaiza alongside Jewish co-founder and co-chair, Avrum Burg, as part of our “Conversations with Israel and Palestine” series. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Anwar Mhajne.

“Israel is the only place in the world in which struggling for the [democratic] normal is not normal,” Burg explained to the audience. So, “we’re struggling for a ‘new Israeli normal’ – a democracy that belongs to all of its citizens” equally.

For some years, a debate has been taking place on the Israeli left regarding the possibility, and political advisability, of creating a party based not on ethnic-national community, but on the shared citizenship of Jews and Arabs. Now, with Meretz out of the Knesset and the Joint List disintegrated, is the time right for just such a party?

We are happy to share below a recording of our June 7 webinar, “All Its Citizens”: Meet the Leaders of Israel’s New Jewish-Arab Party.