The charge that Arabs suffer inequitable treatment in Israeli society — usually simmering on a back burner — flares up anew from time to time.

This, however, is exactly what the Israeli daily, Ha’aretz, did when it provided a platform to Salman Masalha – “a researcher of Arab culture, a poet and a translator,” according to the newspaper blurb – to spread false allegations against the State of Israel. (“Israel’s apartheid doesn’t stop at the West Bank,” March 3, 2010) 

The writer begins his column with the observation that “poetry and lies have much in common.” But while Masalha uses the comment to denigrate Israel’s Declaration of Independence as a disingenuous document, the observation is much more relevant as a description of how he, as a poet, crafted a thoroughly dishonest Op-Ed.

For example, Masalha outrageously asserts in the middle of his column:

The alienation is also evident with regard to the central government. This is the only democratic country in the world where one-fifth of the citizens – who are declared to have equal rights, at least on paper – have no representation in the government or in “provisional and permanent institutions….” [emphasis added]

One would expect a respectable writer and intellectual — and even more so, a respectable newspaper editor — to think twice before publishing such an overtly false statement. The inclusion of such an assertion indicates an overall disrespect toward readers who are apparently deemed ignorant of basic and obvious facts – namely, that Arabs are represented not only in government but in nearly every profession in Israeli society.

Below is a list of Arab Members of Knesset (MKs) who have served in Israeli parliaments both past and present. It includes men, women, Muslims, Christians and Druze who have or currently sit in the Knesset on behalf of Arab parties as well as mixed parties including governing parties and clearly Zionist parties like the Likud, Labor, Kadima and Yisrael Beiteinu.

(Click on each name to view his or her page on the Knesset Web site.* serving in the current, 18th Knesset)

1. Ahmed A-Dahar

2. Hamad Abu-Rabiah

3. Laviv-Hussein Abu-Rochan

4. *Afou Agbaria

5. *Hamad Amar

6. Asaad Asaad

7. Shafik Asaad

8. Zeidan Atashi

9. *Talab El-Sana

10. *Mohammad Barakeh

11. Rostam Bastuni

12. Azmi Bishara

13. Abdulmalik Dehamshe

14. Abdulwahab Darawshe

15. Seif E-Din E-Zoubi

16. Abd-El-Aziz E-Zoubi

17. Hussein Faris

18. *Masud Ganaim

19. Haneh Hadad 

20. Faras Hamdan

21. Yussuf Hamis

22. Salah-Hassan Hanifes

23. Nadia Hilou

24. Halil-Salim Jabara 

25. Hussniya Jabara

26. Amin-Salim Jarjora

27. Muhamad Kanan

28. Ayoob Kara

29. Masaad Kassis

30. Nuzhat Katzsab

31. Hamad Khalaily

32.  Tawfik Khatib

33. Hashem Mahameed

34. Raleb Majadele

35. Issam Makhoul

36. Nawaf Mazalha

37. Mohammed Miari

38. Jabr Moade

39. Hanna Mwais

40. Mohamed Naffa

41. *Said Naffaa

42. Elias Nahale

43. Amal Nasereldeen

44. Diyab Ovid

45. Ahmad Sa`d

46. Walid Sadik

47. Saleh Saleem

48. Tzalach Saliman

49. Ibrahim Sarsur

50. Shachiv Shnaan

51. *Hanna Swaid

52. Wasil Taha

53. Saleh Tarif

54. *Ahmad Tibi

55. Tawfik Toubi

56. Rafik Haj Yahia 

57. Muhammed Wattad

58. *Majalli Whbee 

59. *Jamal Zahalka 

60. Tawfik Zayyad 

61. Abas Zkoor 

62. *Hanin Zoabi 

Masalha’s charge that the Arab minority population is not represented in any “provisional or permanent institution” is similarly belied by indicating the numerous Arab members of the judiciary. Below is a list of Arab justices currently working in Israel’s court system. The list includes men, women, Muslims, Christians and Druze who work at all levels of the Israeli court system. (*Supreme Court Judge):

1. Attif Ailabouni
   Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Nazareth
   Registrar: Dictrict Court, Nazareth
   Acting Judge: District Court, Nazareth (2007-2011)
2. Osaila Abu Assad
   Registrar: Magistrates’ Court, Nazareth
3. Abbas Assi
   Registrar: Magistrates’ Court, Jerusalem
4. Ahmed Abu Freha
   Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Be’er Sheva
5. Nasir Abu Taha
   Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Be’er Sheva
6. Shaher Atrash
   Judge: District Court, Nazareth
7. Ibrahim Boulus
   Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Nazareth
8. Ghada Bsul
   Judge: District Court, Haifa
9. Saaib Dabour
   Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Nazareth
10. Nabeela Dally-Moussa
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Nazareth
11. Mazen Daoud
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Krayot
12. Zaid Falah
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Haifa
13. Rabie Gabali
    Registrar: Magistrates’ Court, Krayot
14. A. Jawad Haj-Yahia
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Tel Aviv
15. Ramzh Hadied
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Haifa
16. William Hamed
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Acre
17. Mohannad Halaily
    Registrar:Magistrates’ Court, Acre
18. Nohad Hasan
    Judge: Labor Court, Haifa
19. Ziad Hawari
    Judge: District Court, Nazareth
20. Said Issa
    Chief Implementation Officer: Magistrates’ Court, Haifa
21. Jamela Jabareen
    Registrar: Magistrates’ Court, Afula
22. Kamela Jadon
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Haifa
23. Nasser Jahshan
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Hadera
24. Sari Jayyoussi
    Judge: Family Court, Nazareth
25. *Salim Joubran
    Judge: Supreme Court
26. Misbah Kabbani
    Chief Implementation Officer: Magistrates’ Court, Krayot
27. Khaled Kabub
    Judge: District Court, Tel Aviv
28. Ihsan Kanaan
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Nazareth
29. Hiam Karawani
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Krayot
30. George Karra
    Judge: District Court, Tel Aviv
31. Nasrin Karyanni
    Judge: Family Court, Nazareth
32. Lubna Khalaila
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Krayot
33. Hashim Khatib
    Judge: District Court, Nazareth
34. Tawfik Kteily
    Vice President: District Court, Nazareth
35. Mohamad Massarwi
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Hadera
36. Nadim Morani
    Registrar: Magistrates’ Court, Krayot
37. Shaden Nashef-Abu Ahmad
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Afula
38. Reem Naddaf
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Tiberias
39. Jameel Nasser
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Acre
40. Riad Qudsi
    Registrar: Magistrates’ Court, Nazareth
41. Kamal Saab
    Judge: District Court, Haifa
42. Hanna Sabbagh
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Nazareth
43. Einas Salameh
    Vice President: Magistrates’ Court, Haifa
44. Ziad Salih
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Acre
45. Shakieb Serhan
    Vice President, Magistrates’ Court, Nazareth
46. Salwa Shami
    Registrar: Labor Court, Nazareth
47. Enaam Shargawe
    Registrar: Magistrates’ Court, Nazareth
48. Maha Smair-Ammar
    Judge: Labor Court, Haifa
49. Arafat Taha
    Judge: Magistrates’ Court, Nazareth
50. Wadad Younis
    Registrar: Magistrates’ Court, Tiberias
51. Sohil Yousif
    Registrar: Magistrates’ Court, Nazareth
52. Raghd Zubi
    Registrar: Magistrates’ Court, Safed

In addition, there are countless doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, officials and civil servants from the Arab sector who provide services to both Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel.

Masalha’s charge that Israel is “the only democratic country in the world” which allows “no representation” of its Arab citizens turns truth completely on its head in other ways. The reality is that Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East where Arabs, like him, can live, exercise democratic freedoms and take advantage of its comforts and benefits, including free education, health insurance, social security, and perhaps most strikingly, the freedom of expression that Masalha, unlike the vast majority of his Arab brethren in the Middle East, enjoys.

In another misleading sample of demagoguery, Masalha complains that Israeli police cars carry the word “police” in Hebrew, but not in Arabic. He writes:

How does an Arab citizen feel about a police force that appears in his community, but does not include any writing in his language? Does this not symbolize, more than anything else, that the police represent an occupation regime, a foreign regime?

What Masalha fails to note, however, is that in Israel — unlike many other multilingual democracies that have only one official language — Arabic too is an official language. Street signs throughout the country are posted in Arabic as well as Hebrew. Official documents, informational brochures, labels and pamphlets are published in Arabic. Many Arab citizens conduct their daily business in all sorts of public service offices — social security, interior ministry, transportation, health care clinics, etc. — in Arabic, with clerks who speak the language and with literature available in their language. Telephone assistance for many basic services frequently includes an Arabic-language option. But these facts do not support Masalha’s message and mission, and so he ignores them.

What is Masalha’s mission? In an earlier interview with Ha’aretz, the writer called for the replacement of the Jewish state with a single state of its citizens, abolishing the Israeli national anthem and flag. His current column tries to promote that goal by contending that Israel is an “apartheid” state. And “apartheid,” Masalha claims, is “reflected throughout the [Israeli] media.” Of course, the very publication of his column undermines Masalha’s argument by proving precisely the opposite – that he is a member of a tolerant society that permits every citizen freedom of speech, the right to criticize the government, and the right to protest in accordance with the law.  Perhaps if he weren’t so busy inventing facts to buttress his enmity toward Israel, he could focus on real problems facing the Arab community.