This is a campaign sign for one of Israel’s religious, ultra-orthodox Jewish political parties – Shas. The name of the party is in Hebrew, the face is that of the party leader and the text is in Arabic.
A Jewish, religious party reaching out to Arab voters? Yup.
It might be mind-bending to those who see the world in black and white, try to categorize and stigmatize entire populations however, in ADDITION to the Arab parties that run in Israeli elections, the secular parties that Arabs sometimes vote for; there is a segment of the Arab population that votes for Shas.
Why?
Because the Arab parties have traditionally been so wrapped up in anti-Israel politics that they forget to take action to better the lives of the Arab citizens of Israel that voted for them. Shas, the religious Jewish party that aims to better the lives of everyone, especially those of lower socio-economic standing, has earned the trust of some Arab voters.
I’ve heard so many foreign reporters talk about “the politics of the [Israeli-Arab] conflict”…
They really don’t have a clue.
