TEL AVIV: Before sitting down to write this article I searched the word combination “Arab Israeli on Google. I learnt the following from the first page of results: an Arab-Israeli is someone who tried to kidnap a pilot, steal a weapon from a soldier, married a Palestinian from the Occupied Territories, or is serving time in an Israeli prison (or a combination of the above). Thus, with a quick flick of my fingers I could form an opinion about 20% of Israel’s population.
The only occasions when the Arab minority in Israel receive attention from the Hebrew-speaking media is when it is an accomplice to a crime, perpetrating a terrorist attack or involved in a violent protest.
Excluding the Arabs of Israel from the discourse is everyone’s loss – Arabs, Jews, Israeli democracy and even the media.
A year ago, Agenda (The Israeli Center for Strategic Communications) published a study about the representation of Arab citizens of Israel in the Hebrew-speaking media. For a year, the study tracked the presence of Arab-Israelis as interviewees, experts, guests and quoted sources in newspapers, on news websites, on radio and television, and in current affairs programs and talk shows.
The facts revealed by the study are a cause for concern: the Arab population in Israel appears in less than 1% of the items in current affairs programs, on television, radio and the Hebrew language press. The data for online outlets is slightly better – at 3% – but still insignificant when considering that we are talking about a minority which constitutes 20% of the Israeli public.
The item topics referencing Arab-Israelis are also a cause for concern.
According to the results of the study, if the Jewish public reads about Arab-Israelis or watches or listens to an Arab it will most likely be framed within a context in which the person is posed as a security or criminal threat to the Jewish majority.
The news or current affairs programs do not offer the consumer of Hebrew language media an opportunity to hear from an Arab legal expert analyzing the legal system, or a doctor talking about the affect of a flu virus on children, or an artist talking about funding issues for cultural activities, etc.
No matter what the item is – whether a film prize or the publication of a book, or any other professional achievement – an Arab is always interviewed as a representative of the Arab minority.
Arabs are also physically absent from the Hebrew language media. In fact, there are almost no Arab reporters. Most of the production companies and the leading current affairs programs do not employ Arab contributors and instead make do with reporters for Arab affairs. These, in turn, rarely deviate from the tradition of reporting about Arabs as a threat and hardly ever discuss Arabs in the context of civilian issues.
Occasionally, they will deviate from the norm when the item in question is either humorous (an Arab who won a hummus-eating contest, for example) or significantly bolsters government policy. For example, during the war in Gaza, at a time when all the leading media sources barely mentioned the protests against the war, they were proud to report about “a Druze and a Bedouin who were at the forefront of Israeli public relations in the United States (the Arab Israeli diplomats-Reda Mansour and Ismail Chaladisheni).
The fact that the Arab population is missing from our screens, airwaves and newspapers is a problem not only for the Arab community in Israel but also for Israeli democracy and for the prospects for co-existence in this country.
Current coverage gives rise to suspicion and intolerance towards the largest minority in the country, damages their standing in society and undermines their relationship with the Jewish majority. That Arab Israelis are cut off from the public discourse decreases the possibilities for courageous dialogue and works against attempts to create peaceful co-existence in the region.
A healthy media is characterized by diversity and in-depth discussions that stimulate debate. We would like to think that the Israeli media is interested in pursuing a wide range of stories and would want to give expression to the great number of different viewpoints existing within the Israeli public. We would like to think that the print media would want to court Arab journalists in order to enrich the content they offer its readers, not only for ideological reasons or out of a desire to increase understanding between peoples, but for the following simple reason – a diverse media is much more professional and interesting.
Anat Rosilio is the NGO strategic advisor and training coordinator for Agenda, Israeli Center for Strategic Communications. As a journalist, Anat has worked as a reporter for Globes and a columnist for Kol Ha’ir and Time Out and was a partner in several online alternative media projects. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
