“It is forbidden to harm the essential multiyear plan, whose contributions to education and welfare in Arab society is truly existential,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog declared at the annual Givat Haviva Shared Society Conference in January.
The president was referring to determined efforts led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Women’s Advancement Minister May Golan to slash official budgets for improving the daily lives of Arab citizens, who comprise 21% of Israel’s population.
This ominous campaign to dismantle essential governmental investments in Arab citizens is especially frustrating for Hassan Towafra. He was the last person to head The Authority for Economic Development of the Arab Community (AEDA), the principal government office responsible for uplifting Arab citizens to reduce disparities and advance the integration of Arab citizens into Israel’s economy and broader society.
“The main challenge for the Authority [AEDA] is the current government,” Towafra told me when we met in New York the day after he delivered the keynote address to the Task Force on Arab Citizens of Israel’s annual meeting last November. He guided the development and implementation of Government Resolution 550, the second five-year national plan investing in and empowering the country’s Arab minority.
“Israel cannot truly prosper without the full inclusion of its Arab citizens with equal rights, quality education, strong municipalities, and meaningful employment opportunities. When we achieve this, it is not only the Arab community that will thrive, it is Israel as a whole,” Towafra told more than 130 members of the Task Force, the main US organization engaging American Jews with Israel’s Arab citizens.
Created in 2007, AEDA was purposely located in the prime minister’s office. Showing his own promise to close longstanding disparities between Jewish and Arab citizens, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the adoption in 2015 of Government Resolution 922, the first official commitment to improve the lot of Arab citizens. It’s NIS 10 b. budget yielded substantial gains in education, housing, public transportation, and infrastructure for Arabs throughout Israel.
Towafra became AEDA’s second director in October 2020. He was transitioning from a senior government position toward the private sector at the time, but the birth of his first daughter, the same week that a call for applications to head AEDA was published, led him to change course. He realized then that he wanted to be directly involved in continuing the expansion of cooperative relations between Israel’s Arab citizens and the government.
His tenure coincided with a particularly challenging period in Israel. “We had a big crisis every year. COVID, Guardians of the Walls, 2022 political polarization, judicial reform, October 7, and war for two years,” Towafra recalls. Still, he led the development, approval, and…
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