A Jewish-Arab coalition is already working. Just look at this Israeli city

Ran Shimoni writes in Haaretz on 2 November 2026:

As we await another war with Iran, as Netanyahu mobilizes the Shin Bet security service against his political rivals and the “bloc of change” limps along to the President’s Residence, I suggest we leave all these worries behind and just escape. Not to New York and not to London. Israelis have never been less welcome in the metropolises of the liberal West. But we can go to Ramle. Yes, Ramle.

In Israel, there are centers that inspire hope, and Ramle has never been one of them. It’s not Tel Aviv, not the peace village of Neve Shalom. Ramle is a very right-wing city. Almost 40 percent of its voters chose Netanyahu’s Likud, nearly 10 percent chose Otzma Yehudit. For almost a decade, a Likud member has headed the town. The Arab community, about a quarter of the city’s population, contends with deep poverty and rising crime. Shared life in Ramle, let me tell you, is not a picture postcard. Yet, it exists. And life for all of the communities in the city is possible.

Here’s an open secret that no one in Ramle has an interest in outsiders knowing: The city’s coalition is Jewish-Arab. Over the past decade, representatives from Likud, Shas, Religious Zionism and those identified with two Arab parties, the United Arab List and Hadash, have managed this city together. The current coalition includes four Arab representatives. Not outside support, not a safety net, and not a joint vote when the numbers align. But a true partnership — in the budget, in education, in tenders.

Mino Abu Laban is the most prominent representative of the Arab community in the city. Over the past decade, he has been a natural member of Mayor Michael Vidal’s coalition. Today he holds the Arab Education portfolio and chairs the city’s tenders committee. He is also number 10 on the United Arab List’s national slate. We spoke this morning and I asked him to explain how it works in Ramle. How what seems beyond the imagination of the Israeli public today is a routine reality in Ramle.

“I think it’s related to our identity,” says Abu Laban. “Perhaps I am Arab and he is Jewish, but our identity as Ramle residents is shared. We are very proud to be Ramle residents. There are deep ideological differences between us; we are not Ramat Hasharon or Ra’anana, but we manage to put our problems on the table and talk to each other. Ultimately, we have a shared desire to protect the city and move it forward.”

In May 2021, this identity was on the verge of collapse when riots erupted in the city, fueled in part by Operation Guardian of the Walls, a military campaign in Gaza. Abu Laban remembers every moment of those days. How he convened the veteran forum of city notables, leaders of its various communities. How they met at the police station and decided first and foremost to prevent outsiders from entering and began checking identity cards at the city entrance. How each forum member set out to speak with their community, and then all of them — the mayor, the police station commander and Arab council members — went out in a procession to the difficult areas.

“When the residents saw us, they saw that we were all together,” he recounts. Within 36 hours, the clashes were over. While other mixed cities like Jaffa, Lod and Acre burned, Ramle was the first to emerge from the chaos.

Ramle is not Israel. The municipality is not the government. But in Ramle, you’ll find the most vital core for any form of shared life: recognition. In Ramle, there is a basic, natural respect for every person who resides there. That’s why, incidentally, the Garin Torani, a religious Zionist movement that sets up communities in underdeveloped towns, never managed to take root there.

Abu Laban differs from Vidal in almost every way. But the city is theirs equally. Both know its streets, its families, and both will remain there no matter what happens. Neither of them has another place to go. Once there is deep recognition of this, the place of Abu Laban and the other Arab council members in the coalition follows naturally. Those who bear the consequences of decisions deserve to participate in making them.

“I represent not only the Arab residents; people from synagogues also approach me. I serve everyone,” he says. “When you see that, as a resident, as a citizen, trust in the other side is maintained. Because you constantly reinforce it.”

So how do you bring this to the national level?

“You go to the field. You see with your own eyes. There are extremists, but they are a tiny percentage. Talk to people eye-to-eye, move beyond the perspective that I am not your enemy, that I am not some monster. You live here, I live here, and both of us have rights. In Ramle, we live together, work together, day in and day out. There’s no reason we can’t succeed in doing this in government. If there’s a will, anything is possible. I tell you, we can change the country.”

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