Full interview..MKs Hanin Zoabi, Jamal Zahalka, Basel Ghattas..why they are angry at Israel's left

[Little Tich]

6. I don't think Balad is a problem for Israel's democracy.

Their purpose is the "struggle to transform the state of Israel into a democracy for all its citizens, irrespective of national or ethnic identity", (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balad_%28political_party%29) which in itself makes Balad into a completely democratic party and fully eligible to participate in the democratic discourse. In contrast, all the Jewish parties (except Meretz, of course) from Labour to Yisrael Beiteinu have a racist platform which promotes privileges for Jews, both individually and as a people.

I'm not too fond of the idea of fighting for the people's rights on the barricades myself, it often leads to getting strange political bedfellows - just look at Jeremy Corbyn's friends for example. I also think it's fundamentally unfair to dismiss the victims of the opposing side - it's dehumanizing, and it's unseemly of Balad to lack proper sympathy for dead innocents.

In the end, it's the political views of the Jewish majority in Israel that's more troubling; 79% believe that Jews deserve preferential treatment in Israel, and 48% want Arabs to be expelled. (http://www.pewforum.org/2016/03/08/israels-religiously-divided-society/#israeli-jews-united-on-need-for-jewish-homeland) That's not what a Jewish and Democratic state looks like. Nothing that Balad stands for, not even their support for Hezbollah can top that.