Writer Ilan Scheinfeld, winner of the Prime Minister's Award for 1990 and 2015, and founder of "Kehilla, the Proud Israeli Party" (a party that has not yet registered and did not want to run for elections) this morning issued a public letter to Israeli Arabs urging them to save Israeli society by flocking to the polls.
In a letter entitled Save Us All, Scheinfeld wrote: "My brothers, the Arabs of Israel, we are facing a fateful election campaign. This election will determine whether the next government will be a fascist, anti-democratic and racist government, or a democratic government, a peace government. Will the occupation continue, ignoring the adversity of the Arab sector in Israel, and will the government work to realize the two-state vision and do everything it can to improve the life of the Arab sector: investment in infrastructure and education, collecting illegal weapons in the villages, increasing policing to prevent violence.
"Together you make up 20 percent of the electorate in Israel. You are the only public that can vote en mass and bring about the necessary change in Israel. As a resident of the Galilee, as your neighbor, I ask you from the bottom of my heart - don't stay home, and don't worry about cameras at the polling station. Come en masse to vote for a better life together for all of us."
On the letter distributed in Arabic and Hebrew, Sheinfeld says: "I decided on this appeal to the Arabs of Israel, because they can swing the elections, and it's fitting they should be the decider of the election, not Liberman. Israeli Arabs are 20% of Israeli society. They should be represented by ministers on their behalf in the next government, and it's necessary they support the center-left government to repeal the Nationality Law and to improve the life of the sector."
He said "such a public appeal to Israeli Arabs is the appropriate answer to the willingness of Joint List Chairman Ayman Odeh to join the coalition. This is an historic step, and now is the time to realize it." Sheinfeld emphasizes that he writes not representing any organizational mission: "I will emphasize that I do this as a writer and a private person living and writing in the Galilee, who is deeply concerned about the future of the State of Israel and Israeli society," he says.