Artist’s latest release encourages Israeli Arabs to turn out and oppose Netanyahu
Palestinian citizens of Israel – nearly a fifth of the population – are being urged to vote in an election that many have said they will boycott. Sections of the country’s largest minority have long refused to take part in national polls as a symbolic protest against Israel and its treatment of Palestinians.
In response, the rapper Tamer Nafar released a song last week that went viral online urging his community to use its voice at Tuesday’s ballot. “Either we vote or we end up being expelled,” he says.
The election has been marred by overtly anti-Arab campaigns waged by major political parties. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, has made an election pact with a group of extremists called Jewish Power, whose candidates include a politician who wants to remove Arab citizens he says are not “loyal” to the state.
