A widespread and misleading narrative, recently revived, portrays Arab Israelis as victims of unending discrimination and poverty. In fact, by certain measures Arabs enjoy a higher quality of life on average than many Israeli Jews; for instance, they are more likely to own their own homes. The problems that plague Arab towns and villages originate in something other than discrimination, writes Akiva Bigman:

The Arabs and their well-wishers like to speak about “years of discrimination” that led to the buildup of tension and genuine class-based “rage.” It’s a nice sound bite, but when you check the actual data, it turns out that the facts are far different, and even if there are gaps [between the Arab and Jewish populations], they certainly are not severe enough to excuse or justify an intifada.

The main reason for the poor situation of Arab municipalities is gross mismanagement deriving from the politics of extended families and the lack of a proper administrative culture. Eighteen out of the 25 committees appointed by the government to take over faulty municipalities in 2005 were over Arab municipalities, and almost all were due to “faulty budget management.”

As we mentioned in yesterday’s newsletter, Israeli special forces carried out a daring boots-on-the-ground raid on September 8 targeting the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) in northwestern Syria. The site was used for producing and storing missiles which are then transferred to Hizballah in Lebanon. Jonathan Spyer notes that the raid was accompanied by extensive airstrikes in Syira,and followed a few days later by extensive attacks on Hizballah in Lebanon, one of which killed Mohammad Qassem al-Shaer, a senior officer in the terrorist group’s Radwan force, an elite infantry group. And yesterday, the IDF destroyed a weapons depot, an observation post, and other Hizballah positions. Spyer puts these attacks in context:

The direct purpose of the raid, of course, was the destruction of the facilities and materials targeted. But Israel also appeared to be delivering a message to the Syrian regime that it should not imagine itself to be immune should it choose to continue its involvement with the Iran-led axis’s current campaign against Israel.

Similarly, the killing of al-Shaer indicated that Israel is no longer limiting its response to Hizballah attacks to the border area. Rather, Hizballah operatives in Israel’s crosshairs are now considered fair game wherever they may be located in Lebanon.

The SSRC raid and the killing of al-Shaer are unlikely to have been one-off events. Rather, they represent the systematic broadening of the parameters of the conflict in the north. Hizballah commenced the current round of fighting on October 8, in support of Hamas in Gaza. It has vowed to stop firing only when a ceasefire is reached in the south—a prospect which currently seems distant.