Most Jews living in Israel know nothing about their country's Arab citizens. They make up 20 percent of the population, but they are increasingly perceived by the Jewish majority as undeserving of even the most basic rights. The attitude taking root in Israel today is that Arabs are not part of the nation’s social fabric, that they should either be evicted or penned in, and that they deserve to lose their citizenship. Studies of Israeli high school students show that most of them actually believe that Arabs should not even be eligible for basic medical treatment.

This racism and hatred towards Israel's Arab citizens stems from more than just ignorance. It also arises from the anger that exists among the Jewish public toward the Arab sector’s representatives in the Knesset. Actions taken by these politicians in expressing their solidarity with the Palestinians paint an entire community as failing to identify with the state of Israel and its values. Surveys leading up to elections tend to lump the various Arab parties into a nameless bloc known generically as the "Arab parties." Even the national television rating system divides up the country into "Jewish households" and "general population."

The Israeli media only places the Arab public in the limelight when the story involves violence, crime or collaboration with the enemy. Arabs find it hard to get invited as talk-show guests in their capacities as doctors, lawyers and engineers — in any capacity, in fact, other than the generic "Arabs" — even though Israel's Arab citizens include many experienced physicians and university lecturers in every imaginable discipline. We don’t see Arabs, we don’t hear them and we aren’t exposed to them either. Nobody knows that the art gallery in Umm al-Fahm is one of the finest in the country, since most Israeli Jews don't associate Arabs with the visual arts.

The only place where Israelis can see Arabs and connect to them emotionally these days is reality television. Since these shows have the audacity to present the human mosaic that is Israel and to grant expression to all sectors of the population, they always cast a token Arab. Besides, whenever there’s an Arab contestant, there’s a greater chance for either conflict or touching human stories. As a result, reality television has become the only media outlet where the Israeli public can be exposed to Arabs.