For years, critics of Israel have portrayed the country as a settler-colonial apartheid state that systematically oppresses its Arab minority. Yet anyone who has spent time in Israel is likely to encounter a more complex reality. Arab citizens are an integral part of Israeli society. They serve as physicians, nurses, lawyers, engineers, pharmacists, entrepreneurs, professors and judges. It is commonplace to be treated by an Arab physician at one of Israel\u2019s leading hospitals, work alongside Arab colleagues, or encounter Arab attorneys in the country\u2019s courthouses.<\/p>\n
Professor Robert Cherry, emeritus professor of economics at Brooklyn College, set out to examine this disconnect between perception and reality in his new book, \u201cArab Citizens of Israel: How Far Have They Come?\u201d Drawing on decades of research into discrimination and labor markets, Cherry argues that the widely accepted narrative often overlooks the remarkable social, educational, and economic progress made by Arab citizens since Israel\u2019s founding. While documenting the discrimination and military rule that characterized Israel\u2019s early decades, he concludes that the country\u2019s Arab citizens have undergone a profound transformation that is largely ignored in discussions about Israel today.<\/p>\n
Cherry\u2019s interest in the subject grew out of his decades of studying racial discrimination in the United States. After donating to a playground in a Druze village in northern Israel, he became a member of a United Jewish Appeal committee that supported Israeli NGOs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent a few decades studying racial discrimination in the U.S.,\u201d Cherry said. \u201cIt seemed like certain aspects of the dynamic between Jews and Arabs had similarities to what I had studied in the United States between Blacks and Whites.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comparison prompted Cherry to explore the experiences of Arab citizens of Israel through the same analytical lens he had applied to discrimination in the American labor market.<\/p>\n
Published by Wicked Son Press, the book chronicles the social, economic, and political progress of Israel\u2019s Arab citizens since the first Aliyah in 1882. Cherry also examines how the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack affected Arab-Israeli society, noting that many Arab citizens expressed solidarity with Israel during the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cHamas didn\u2019t distinguish between Arabs and Israelis,\u201d Cherry said, noting that between 40 and 50 Arab citizens were among those killed on October 7. \u201cI was surprised how consistent the support was and how it increased the feeling of being Israelis.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of Cherry\u2019s interesting findings while working on the book was the rapid growth of Arab participation in Israel\u2019s high-tech sector. He attributes much of that success to educational initiatives that prepare Arab students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from an early age.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was certainly surprised with how quickly they had become large numbers in high tech,\u201d he said. \u201cThey started in high school giving prep programs and summer programs so they can meet the standards. That\u2019s one of the differences between the U.S. and Israel. There is much more of what is called developmental affirmative action\u2014you prepare people so they can meet those standards.\u201d Cherry pointed to Nazareth, which has emerged as a growing high-tech hub, as an example of that investment.<\/p>\n
Cherry believes these developments receive little attention in the United States, where the conversation about Israel often overlooks the experiences of its Arab citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t know anything about them,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you read The New York Times and The Washington Post, they almost never report about the Arab citizens of Israel. People don\u2019t know that they are doctors, and that Jews are treated by Arab doctors. It\u2019s not part of the narrative. Instead they write about the violence in the Arab communities and that the government doesn\u2019t do anything about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, Cherry said, most of the advances the Arab community enjoyed in Israel, took place under the Netanyahu government.<\/p>\n
Cherry also points to the growing number of Arab women entering higher education and the workforce as one of Israel\u2019s most significant changes in recent decades. In his view, expanding educational and employment opportunities has benefited both Arab society and the Israeli economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t only a moral issue,\u201d Cherry said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t afford a poor community.\u201d He believes Israeli policymakers recognized that increasing workforce participation among Arab women would strengthen the economy while reducing long-term welfare costs.<\/p>\n
Cherry also highlights the limits of social integration between Jewish and Arab citizens compared with other societies he has studied. Unlike contexts where intergroup relationships often develop through friendship, shared neighborhoods, and intermarriage, he notes that in Israel, social boundaries remain more pronounced. Jewish and Arab citizens, he argues, generally live in separate communities, and early education is largely segregated, limiting meaningful interaction before university.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmployment and educational efforts have been successful in integrating Arab citizens, and there are more Arab teachers in Jewish schools than ever before,\u201d Cherry said. However, he emphasized that structural separation remains significant. \u201cArabs by and large still live in Arab communities and Jews in Jewish communities\u2026 schooling before college isn\u2019t integrated.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he acknowledges improvements in mixed cities such as Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem, he argues that most children still grow up with limited exposure to the other community. As a result, he sees the presence of Arab teachers in Jewish schools as particularly important. \u201cJewish kids who have never seen Arabs in a meaningful interactive way before college age may carry stereotypes,\u201d he said. \u201cHaving Arab teachers in schools helps create that interaction early. You need that kind of engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Cherry, this educational role becomes one of the few consistent bridges between the two communities in an otherwise largely parallel social structure.<\/p>\n
When asked whether the Arab citizens he had spoken with recognized how much their lives had changed over the years, Cherry said the answer was not always straightforward.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard for some of them to embrace that there has been a real change,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you have a population that is only one generation removed from a pretty bad situation, it\u2019s hard for them to feel comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cherry acknowledged that there remains a vocal segment of Arab students who identify with Palestinian nationalism. \u201cThere is a section of Arab students that is left-wing, and they still see the most important thing as maintaining unity with the West Bank and Gaza,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re more vocal because they\u2019re university graduates but they don\u2019t represent the majority of Arab citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n
During my recent visit to Israel this summer, I observed many of the changes Cherry describes firsthand. Arab citizens were visibly integrated across a range of workplaces\u2014from healthcare and law to business and public services\u2014and their presence in professional environments was both routine and unremarkable.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the picture was not uniform across all communities. In particular, Bedouin women remain significantly underrepresented in the workforce, reflecting a combination of social, educational, and economic factors that differ across segments of Arab society.<\/p>\n
Taken together, Cherry\u2019s findings point to a reality that is often flattened in public debate. Arab citizens of Israel are not outside the system looking in, nor fully absorbed into it, but increasingly embedded within it in specific sectors of society, while still living within clear social and geographic boundaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, critics of Israel have portrayed the country as a settler-colonial apartheid state that systematically oppresses its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-532219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}