Next year, Israel’s next racist government will be formed — the only question is: which one?

By: Abraham Burg

In Israel of 2025, the word “Zionism” has become a simple political signal: no Arabs.Both loud racism and quiet racism now permeate the entire political system, where basic civic partnership has become an ideological luxury. As long as excluding one-fifth of the citizenry is considered legitimate, the room will darken and the door will remain closed.

“Do not wear glassesNeither gloomy nor cheerfulLook with your eyesYour open eyes…You must see evil in order to fight it.”— Nathan Alterman

We are in the midst of an election year, and the results are known. Next year, Israel’s next racist government will be formed. The only question is whether it will be the official, loud racism, or the quiet—and more dangerous—one.

It is enough to listen to what politicians say, and just as importantly, what they do not say, to understand everything.In Israel of 2025, the word Zionism has become a political code word that everyone understands. It is no longer the set of values that motivated Herzl the secularist or Jabotinsky the liberal. It is a clear and blunt signal meaning one simple thing: no Arabs.When all those who consider themselves “worthy” commit to forming a “Zionist government,” they do not mean an exemplary society, brotherhood of nations, peace, equality, or regional integration. Some of them do not even know these options ever existed within the Zionist idea in its various forms.They mean an Arabfrei governing space — free of Arabs.This is stated openly, in their own voices, with the full knowledge of voters across all camps. And none of these so-called “leaders” rise up against it.So there is no escaping the conclusion: for all of them, Zionism equals racism.

The astounding part is not the Israeli right led by the chief inciter and his circle of pyromaniacs—they are openly proud of their racist identity.The shame lies with the miserable centrists and the submissive leftists who have adopted it de facto.Excluding Arabs is an ancient tradition dating back to Ben-Gurion — the man of “Without Herut and Maki.” And his timid heirs do not dare break away from it. Again and again we hear them constructing, with empty words, coalitions based on the metric of “Zionist democracy.”Arab citizens and their representatives are absent from the planning and equations, not because they were forgotten — but intentionally. Arabs out. Only Jews in.

Today, there is not a single political figure anywhere in the Zionist spectrum willing to say clearly:“I will not sit in a government without Arabs.”or“No government that excludes citizens because of their national identity is legitimate.”

Occasionally, one of the exhausted Yairs can be forced to mutter some evasive phrase.But taking a democratic, courageous stance? That is beyond them.Here and there they talk about the political stupidity of trying to form a government without Arab votes, as if Arabs were foreign laborers who will clean up the filth Netanyahu leaves behind.

But the real question is not what is practical — it is what is right to fight for.And from that, they flee.

The upcoming elections place Israel before an existential question:Is there even one leader who will simply declare that a government discriminating against its citizens because of their origin is a government one must refuse to join?So far, the answer is no. And that may be the gravest outcome of the polarization years — not that the extremist right has grown stronger, but that everyone else, these “democratic” scarecrows, have rotted away.

Basic values of civic partnership have become ideological luxuries.It is forbidden to mention equality, citizenship, rights, reconciliation, justice, dignity.All these cowards hope the question disappears, that no one will ask it, that no one will force them to utter the names of those whose name must not be spoken.Arabs are the Voldemort of Israeli politics.

Here lies the difference between the loud racism of the current government and the quiet racism surrounding us everywhere.Loud racism boasts of being racism. It believes in national supremacy and views Arab citizens as a problem to be managed or minimized. It is direct, noisy, and insulting — but at least honest.

The hidden racism is far more dangerous. It hides behind a civic-sounding, quasi-liberal language, “moderate politics,” and vague definitions of national patriotism. Its representatives neither wave flags nor climb the anti-fascist barricades. By doing nothing, they enable racism’s continuation.Even the “identifier of processes” does not dare.Quiet racism is the stagnant water in which the rotten fish swims.

The difference is like the difference between a physical assault in the street and domestic violence.The first is seen, condemned, defended against.The second is hidden, silenced, lifelong — with no savior for the victims.

This quiet racism is woven into the Israeli agenda, the structure of the parties, and the entire political culture.The moment political discourse defines any government with Arab partnership as illegitimate, the room is already darkened and the door is shut.

Some will say this is merely tactical: “Don’t worry, later we’ll do something.”But the real question is not whether they will join a government or not — it is what society says about itself when the participation of its Arab citizens becomes a point of contention, a possibility to be avoided for political convenience.A society that cannot say loudly and clearly that excluding one-fifth of its citizens is a moral red line cannot call itself a democracy.

Zionism did not have to be racist.But the political reality of recent years has turned “Zionism” into a doctrine of exclusion and discrimination.Zionism 2025 is not concerned with building a shared civic home — but with protecting the home from its non-Jewish inhabitants. It uses patriotic language to justify a regime of separation and discrimination between human beings based solely on origin.

If the next government is formed on foundations of ethnic exclusion, it does not matter who leads it or its composition.It will carry the moral defect of a building constructed on malignant foundations. And no state can stand long on such foundations without the entire house collapsing on its inhabitants.

Israel must choose otherwise.It must redefine Israeliness — not as worship of national homogeneity, but as a genuine invitation to full civic partnership.To understand that Jewish–Arab partnership is precisely the key to a better future, to stability, and to political morality.

For this to happen, someone must say the sentence no one has yet dared to say — not with tactical maneuvering but in the name of the most basic principle of a living society.Until that sentence is spoken, we must call the disease by its name:The beating heart of Zionism 2025 is the rot of discrimination.And there is no other word for it but racism.