As vote counting continues following yesterday’s parliamentary elections in Israel, the Party of European Socialists (PES) has expressed firm solidarity with its observer member party, The Democrats, and party leader Yair Golan.
The message follows a high-level PES delegation visit to Israel last week, where PES Secretary General Giacomo Filibeck and Deputy Secretary General Saar van Bueren met with leaders of the democratic opposition and reaffirmed their backing for The Democrats ahead of the vote.
Highlighting the fundamental democratic struggle at stake, European progressives echoed Golan’s uncompromising defence of civil equality and minority voting rights:
”Netanyahu lost. I know how to count to 120. 65 is more than 55. That is how Israeli democracy works. Period.
One resounding lesson from the reality we face: we have no future here unless we stop being afraid. And unless we put an end to racism. We must no longer accept Netanyahu’s racist division between Jewish votes and Arab votes.
The vote of an Israeli citizen casting a ballot in Tira is worth exactly the same as the vote of an Israeli citizen casting a ballot in Givat Shmuel. Not less. Not approximately the same. Exactly the same.
Anyone who tries to erase the votes of Arab citizens is surrendering to Netanyahu and giving up on Israel.”
PES Secretary General Giacomo Filibeck said:
“It is time to end the long-standing attempts to delegitimise the political power and democratic voice of Israel’s Arab citizens. The preliminary election results clearly show that Netanyahu’s extremist, divisive politics have reached a dead end and must make way for a new approach – one rooted in genuine equality, partnership, and democratic renewal.”
For the European Social Democrats, the message strikes at the core of social-democratic values: a genuine democracy cannot tolerate second-class citizens or tiered voting rights.
