The following is the full text of a speech delivered Monday evening by former senior police official and ex-Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz announcing his unprecedented decision to run with the Islamist Ra’am party in the upcoming national election:
After a long period of deliberation and many conversations with Dr. Mansour Abbas, I decided that the right thing to do is to take action — to join Ra’am’s list. In particular at this time, amid the social polarization between Jews and Arabs. Ra’am wants to be part of taking action.
I am Jewish, a Zionist, secular, an officer in the IDF and a commissioner in the Israel Police. Mansour is Arab, a religious Muslim and a conservative. What connects the two of us is that we are all Israelis, and that is our shared identity.
The term “Israeli” has lost some of its luster, and we are continuously occupied with ethnic distinctions that divide us instead of what unites us.
The Arab population in Israel makes up 21 percent [of the population] — active and productive, in industry, the economy, culture, education and medicine. It is an engine of economic and social growth.
