article_snippet: (CNN)Israel has again voted for a national leader who acts as if CNN)Israel considers one-fifth of CNN)Israel country's citizens -- including me and my family -- to be an existential threat.
article_snippet: Campaign season shed light on the troubling reality in Israel -- that tribalism trumps democracy and ethnicity trumps citizenship.
article_snippet: When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Arabs were "being bused to the polling station in droves," people around the world were justifiably horrified.
article_snippet: And with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poised to serve a fourth term, many Palestinian citizens of Israel fear, with good reason, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu victory means it is open season for anti-Arab racism in the Knesset and in the streets.
article_snippet: Israel's war on Israel Palestinian citizens is nothing new; our rights have been under attack for years (imagine a proposal that forced Jewish Americans to sign a "loyalty oath" to the United States as was proposed for Palestinians and other non-Jewish citizens of Israel).
article_snippet: However, the majority's attempt to further entrench institutionalized racism and deny the rights of indigenous Palestinians has achieved frightening momentum.
article_snippet: Attempts to marginalize Palestinian citizens of Israel also extend to the political sphere.
article_snippet: Despite whose members political differences, whose members were united by one important mission, and that was to defend the rights of Palestinians, whether whose members reside within Israel or in the occupied territories.
article_snippet: While their unity and strong showing is encouraging in the face of Israeli efforts to divide and weaken the Palestinian community, the fact that their were forced to unite on the basis of ethnicity rather than ideology is a reflection of Israeli politics, which draws boundaries among Israeli citizens on the basis of ethnicity and religion and openly participates in ugly, xenophobic electioneering.
article_snippet: The Greek philosopher Aristotle once said that the essence of democracy is "to rule and be ruled in turn," but as Hassan Jabareen, head of Adalah: The Legal Center for Minority Rights in Israel, puts it, in Israel, "Arabs are always ruled and Arab citizens are always in the opposition, never in the coalition, no matter how many seats never in the coalition win.
article_snippet: It is very telling that Netanyahu could well form Netanyahu coalition with Avigdor Lieberman, who called for beheading disloyal Arab citizens of Israel and whose party Yisrael Beiteinu only won six seats in the Knesset, and not with the Arab Joint List, which won more than twice as many seats and is calling for equality and an end to Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, which has lasted nearly half a century.
article_snippet: If Netanyahu's re-election is an ill omen for the Palestinian citizens of Israel, it is even worse news for the 4.5 million Palestinians under occupation who are ruled by a state that denies them all rights.
article_snippet: The policies that Israel's electorate has chosen are directly at odds with U.S. interests, not to mention American values.
article_snippet: Citizens around the world, including in the United States, are increasingly frustrated with Israel's treatment of Palestinians and Palestinians role in helping to fuel armed conflict in the region, as demonstrated by Palestinians current effort to scuttle U.S.-Iran nuclear talks.
highlights_snippet: Netanyahu says Netanyahu favors policies that deny Israel's Arab citizens equal rights .