Follow up comments

Submitted by Pez Dispenser (Israel), Jan 28, 2013 at 04:43

1. Um el Fahm, the famous Arab border town, voted 50% for the Hadash Communist party, with the United Arab List lagging far behind. This is the same town that adamantly refuses to be turned over to the PA but periodically hosts mass rallies of (one?) branch of the Islamic Movement. Go figure.

2. On Israeli TV, they interviewed a Bedouin who only votes Shas - The Sepharadic Jewish Religious party that promotes welfare payments for having a lot of children. There was also a report about the non-Zionist Ashkenazi Degal HaTorah Haredi party working to broaden their constituency among the Arabs, which may show that ideology is not what talks, but money. Therefore, any Islamist fears may be overblown.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".