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A great number of the professionals who are helping Israelis fight the coronavirus pandemic are Palestinian: “18 percent of doctors and 24 percent of nurses and 47 percent of pharmacists,” according to Eli Kowaz of the Israel Policy Forum The Israeli health system would collapse without Palestinians. “If the thousands of Arab health workers–doctors, nurses, pharmacists–were to stay at home, the entire system would collapse,” former spy chief Ephraim Halevy wrote in Haaretz.

The only physician in the Israeli parliament (per Kowaz) is a Palestinian: Ahmad Tibi.

Ahmad Tibi, legislator and doctor, thanks health professionals both Jewish and Arab fighting coronavirus. March 2020

Dr. Tibi has been playing a leading role in getting out health information during the crisis, in helping to evacuate Israelis from other countries— including former IDF soldiers who were smoking pot in faraway places to decompensate after years of raiding Palestinian homes and arresting children in the West Bank.

Dr. Tibi celebrates the work of health workers both Jewish and Arab in this inspiring video (screenshot on the right). Dr. Tibi also posted the photo of praying health-care workers at the top of this article with the message, “Let us all be healthy, Jews and Arabs. We will defeat the Corona virus, overcome the racism virus.”

The racism virus. Benjamin Netanyahu, the caretaker prime minister who faces trial on corruption charges, has been attacking those very Palestinian legislators, including Dr. Tibi, in racist billboards [see article] and chalktalks to the press. Netanyahu dismissed the 15 seats the Palestinians won in the March 2 election as non-factors in the coalition math that will produce a new government. He only counts Jewish legislators on the sheet below! 105.

Palestinians are good enough to save Jews’ lives in Israel, but not to be in their government