Activist Somaya Bashir seeks spot on Democrats’ slate, calls for Arab-Jewish partnership

Arab-Israeli activist Somaya Bashir says that she is running in the primaries for the left-wing Democrats party to advocate for issues facing the Arab community and to advance Arab-Jewish partnership.

Bashir announced on her Facebook page yesterday that she would be running in the party’s primaries, making her the left-wing party’s first potential Arab candidate.

A longtime activist and psychologist from the northern village of Jatt, Bashir has established several non-profits, including “We Have No Other Land,” and has been a leader in the non-profit Women Wage Peace.

She says that as a hijab-wearing woman from a traditional village, she debated whether she wanted to enter the political fray, knowing the criticism she would receive. But at 50, she tells the Times of Israel that she has waited long enough.

“I haven’t seen any change, so I decided to do it. If I don’t, nobody else will,” she says.

“The Arab community is burning, and nobody is doing anything,” she continues, pointing to the ongoing wave of crime and violence plaguing Arab towns, in addition to a lower quality of life and rights for Arab citizens.

In the current political landscape, Bashir says the left-wing party led by Yair Golan, following last year’s merger between the Labor Party and Meretz, is the only party meaningfully engaging with Arab society.

Bashir says she did not consider joining one of the four Arab-majority parties that recently signed an agreement to work towards a Joint List.

“That is no way to influence or have power. You need to be part of the system,” she says. While she says she is proud of the Arab parties, she argues they “haven’t helped us be part of the greater society and haven’t advanced” meaningful change.

She wants to have meaningful power and the ability to effect change, which “cannot be done” from outside the government.