Don’t mourn a coexistence that never existed

Torched synagogues and cars and vandalized stores in the central city of Lod, following a night of riots in the city, May 12, 2021. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Palestinian citizens of Israel have grown accustomed to hearing ridiculous statements from Israeli mainstream media and politicians. Their lack of knowledge about Palestinian society and the lies they spew on national television are not only far beneath journalistic standards, they are often plain ludicrous and very non-journalistic

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But over the last few weeks, even by their standard, the horror-comedy show that is Israeli TV has outdone itself. As violence raged across the country, in Jerusalem, Gaza, and the so-called “mixed cities,” mainstream presenters lashed out at Arab guests on their shows, interrupting their responses. Some anchors actively incited against Palestinian demonstrators, while politicians from the Israeli left publicly backed the onslaught in Gaza.

As if they are oblivious to their own incitement against Palestinians these past two weeks — some of the more prominent broadcasters actually called for shooting us on sight — all of a sudden, everyone is talking about “bringing back coexistence to our streets.” These statements are not only hypocritical, they expose the main reason why there has never been real “coexistence” between Jewish and Palestinian citizens. So how can they mourn something that never existed? Why are Jewish Israelis suddenly mourning the loss of an imagined utopia?

It’s simple: in their minds, it actually did exist.

The media routinely ignores the hardships of Palestinian society. Israelis have no idea that many Palestinians in Lyd have had to build their houses on their own land without the necessary permits, because the authorities refuse to give those permits while preventing the expansion of Palestinian neighborhoods and demolishing existing homes.

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