In northern Arab town of Mazra’a, voters demand safety, equality and change

Voter turnout is brisk in the northern Arab town of Mazra’a, where residents are heading to the polls driven by mounting concerns about discrimination.

“I never cared in the past because the Knesset felt so far away,” says Mazra’a resident Samia Zina. “But now I’m worried because there’s a higher level of racism than ever before.”

She says that Arabs in Israel “want to live in peace, just like the Jews want to live in peace.”

“We’ve all had enough of war,” she adds.

Signs for two Arab parties line the road outside one polling station: Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas, and the Joint List, headed by Yousef Jabareen.

Mazra’a Mayor Fuad Awad echoes what he calls an “urgent” call for a political shift.

“We have to change the government,” Awad says. “We need leaders who think about the Arab sector, who worry about the northern periphery and the violence inside Arab society. We need a government that stops home demolitions and ends discrimination against Arab nurses and doctors who care for patients with so much compassion.”

“The message is that unless we change things, only the extremists will be left,” Awad adds. “We have no other country.”