The above graphic is from a Facebook group called "IsraelWTF". The page posts "Pro-Israel" Hasbarah material, while glossing over Israel's finer issues. A single look at the graphic above shows you a bright and colourful picture of Israel's harmonious diversity, that thrives in this "bastion of democracy". However, whether through neglect, or negligence, the graphic certainly doesn't show the full picture of the situation for minority groups in Israel.
In regards to Arab members of Knesset, the statistic seems to show a decent representation of Arab members in the Knesset, and certainly no discrimination what so ever. However, for anyone that has followed Israeli news has seen a proposed change in the Israeli voting system. The suggested change would raise the electoral threshold from 2% to 3.25%, to get a place in the Israeli Knesset. While this might not seem like much, the move is sure to choke smaller parties, which mostly include the Israeli-Arab parties. (http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/03/israel-new-law-kills-minority-representation-2014311165373497.html)
According to the graphic, the southern city of Rahat seems to be a thriving metropolis with bustling with life as a Bedouin city in Israel's south. However, Rahat isn't exactly a celebration of Israel's celebrated "diversity and pluralism". Despite existing for several decades, and with 10s of thousand people living there, it got a train station (that it shares with the neighbouring Jewish community of Lahav), and a bus service in the last 5 years. However, there are several Jewish outposts which have less than 1,000 people that have had Egged buses connected straight away.
The story of the Bedouins is even sadder when it comes to those that live in communities outside of Rahat. Israel currently hosts several Bedouin communities that live in what is called an "unrecognised village". This means that you are given no rights, no services and the military has been known to turn up from time to time to destroy your house. This includes the Israeli government's infamous "Prawer Plan", which threatened to relocate roughly 30,000-40,000 Bedouins against their will in order to build a highway.
The graphic also boasts of high participation rates from Druze and Bedouins, as if to celebrate the Israeli Militaries ability to integrate people from different backgrounds into the melting pot of Israel, the IDF. However, Druze and Bedouin service rates are part of their culture of serving in the army of which they live in, not related to how well Israelis treat them.
The picture mentions Druze-Israeli head of State, Majalli Wahabi, who was briefly the Israeli President. However, Wahabi only achieved the position because Moshe Katzav took a leave of absence and his second in command, Dalia Itzik, was overseas.
However, my biggest gripe with the graphic above is that all these are expected from a democratic country, and possibly more, yet Israel barely scrapes the bottom of the barrel of a passing mark in regards to treatment of it's minority citizens. The story gets even worse for people that live in the West Bank under Israeli rule who are subjected to non-democratic army rule.
So sure, you can find fascinating tidbits here and there that can highlight Israel's "treatment" of it's minorities. However, you can only show this if you only show part of the story and bend the truth. The reality is that Israel is failing to treat it's minorities with respect, regardless of whether they are an Ethiopian Jew, Palestinian Israeli, Bedouin or a refugee from Eritrea or Sudan.
Author Note: The Prawer Plan was shelved after protests in solidarity with the Bedouin community sparked across the country. (http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.563497)
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