I just returned from the polling booth situated in the little nursery school across from my supermarket. As pretty much every newspaper article that I have read has pointed out, this is the fifth time in under four years that Israelis are choosing a new parliament and with it a prime minister. Based on the above, you could be excused for thinking that voter fatigue will translate into a lackluster turnout and people are completely fed up with the continuing deadlock on the Knesset Hill.

Israel, however, is not like other Western democracies in many important ways. Unlike Americans, who will also be heading to the polls in a few days for midterm elections, Israelis are not choosing between two parties or opposing camps, but rather between 39 parties of various sizes. Voter turnout over the past five elections has hovered around an impressive 70% and as of ten AM today it is at 40-year highs.

Lastly, unlike most other countries in the West that suffer from inverted population pyramids, Israel is a young country with over 70% of Israelis under the age of thirty. Though it has only been some 20 months since the last election for over 200,000 people (including my daughter) this is the first time that they are eligible to vote.

At the same time, and most worryingly, this is the first election to take place after the events of May 2021, when many of Israel’s “mixed cities” (read Jewish and Arab), erupted in violence during the brief two-week war with Hamas. Though the rioting was limited to specific areas and there is no doubt in my mind that these events do not represent the Arab community as a whole, I am concerned that the psychological trauma of those events will play out today at the polls with devastating effect as Israel’s far-right seems set for unprecedented success.

Though Israel is much safer than most countries in the world (104 out of 136 countries in terms of crime rate), many Israeli Jews live in fear of their Arab-Israeli neighbors, find it difficult to relate to them, and are (sadly) increasingly advocating for a heavy hand.

With this in mind, and with a firm belief in the need for interaction and people to people (P2P) contacts, I have made a point of going out of my way to visit and explore as many Arab communities as I could over the past 18 months. This has included Druze in the Galilee and the Golan, Alawites along the Lebanese border, Christian communities in Haifa and the Galilee, Bedouin in the Negev and Muslim communities both in Israel and in Judea and Samaria.

This weekend, in the rundown to the election, I went to a festival in Um al Fahem (the second largest Arab city in Israel), visited the divided town of Barta’a, met with people in the leafy suburb of Um al Kutuf, ate pita with zaatar in the village of Um a Rihan located across the Green Line in Samaria, and went for a latte in the Israeli town of Kafr Qara.

In ALL of these places I spoke with the locals, was met with warmth by them, learned new things, saw unexpected attractions, ate fantastically fresh food, and visited tourist initiatives. Most of all, I witnessed a rich parallel society that more often than not shattered the stereotypes surrounding the “Arab Sector” that are so prevalent among even the most well-meaning of Israelis. To paraphrase V.S. Naipaul, there are “a million mutinies” currently going on in the Arab community and we would be wise to take this time to note that and build bridges with our neighbors rather than put up more walls. At least, that is what I intend to do.

So, the next time you are in Israel, PLEASE ask me about arranging a visit to an Arab community. We will meet with locals, eat with them, learn about their dreams, hopes, aspirations, history, families, and rich culture. Of course, we can even discuss politics if that is what specifically interests you.