YERUSHALAYIM -
Mohammad Barakeh, former Ra’am MK.
(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The demise of the Joint Arab List threatens despite a reconciliation meeting on Sunday night.
Talks between the four parties that make up the alliance have so far failed to close the internal fissures.
“It was not an easy conversation. There will be further discussion and meetings in the coming days. I hope we can move forward, but it’s too early to say whether it will succeed or not,” former Hadash MK Mohammad Barakeh said in a phone call with The Times of Israel.
Barakeh, who hosted the first four-way meeting between party leaders since new elections were called for March, said that the talks dealt with “the relationship between the Arab parties and the government,” without elaborating.
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Jan. 15, 2021
Hundreds protested in Israel s north on Friday against the spike in violence in the Arab community in recent months and called on the police to step up law enforcement.
Hundreds of demonstrators blocked the Wadi Ara highway leading to the entrance of the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm. Among the protesters were local political activists, including a large turnout by the Islamic Movement.
Sheikh Raed Fathi delivered a sermon outside of the Umm al-Fahm municipality, blaming both a lax police response to the recurring acts of violence and those who participate in perpetuating it, including gun owners who view themselves as heroes.
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Jan. 15, 2021
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech on Wednesday in Nazareth was seen as an act of defiance in the Arab city before he even opened his mouth. His very presence in the capital of Israeli Arab society demonstrates how Netanyahu sees the community as no-man’s land in the electoral battle – and maybe even the group that will decide the election in his favor.
In the past, such a scenario would have been considered to be fantasy. During the recent election campaigns, Likud and the other Zionist parties had almost no foothold in Arab towns – and the Joint List received 87 percent of the Arab votes.
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Jan. 13, 2021
Since the start of the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of families in Israel have sought the help of social welfare services for the first time, says a report issued by directors of 150 welfare service agencies across the country.
The report cites a significant spike in the number of people requiring assistance, citing a 20.4 percent rise in reports of children at risk, a 31.9 percent increase in the number of older citizens turning to welfare services for the first time, a 25.8 percent increase in domestic violence, a 21.5 percent rise in the number of calls relating to youth or young adults in distress, and an 8.4 percent increase in calls related to addiction to drugs, alcohol or gambling.