Samah Salaime: The ‘Arab vote’ is an offer of trust. Why are Jews rejecting it?
Following the unprecedented gains by Arab parties in the Knesset, we go deep into what brought voters to the ballot box and what the parties stand for
Welcome to “A Mandatory Listen,” a new weekly podcast in which The Times of Israel deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan asks the big questions facing Israel and the Jewish people.
For this seventh episode in the new series, we speak with Palestinian activist and writer Samah Salaime to hear why this past election was so significant for the Arab Israeli voter.
WATCH the full episode here:
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Salaime is a longtime contributor to the +972 Magazine, where she focuses on feminism and Arab-Jewish relations.
She was born in the northern town of Tur’an located between Haifa and Tiberius and moved to the mixed Jewish-Arab oasis of Neve Shalom/ Wahat al-Salam in 2000, where she raised her three boys.
Salaime, a social worker by education and training, was a fellow at the prestigious Mandel School for Educational Leadership and, among other accolades, was awarded the Rappaport Prize for Longstanding Achievement in 2020.
In this post-election period, in which the Arab vote translated into an unprecedented combined 19 mandates for the Joint List and Ra’am, Salaime provides nuanced insight into what drew Arab Israeli citizens to the ballot box this time and the parties for whom they voted.
In this tolerant, free-flowing conversation, the pair voice frustration with Israeli society’s longtime status quo of mutual distrust and wonder aloud about another way forward.
A Mandatory Listen podcast episodes are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Yitzchak Ledee.