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RULA DAOOD WANTED TO CHANGE THE MOST IMPORTANT ARAB POLITICAL BODY IN
ISRAEL  
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Vera Weidenbach
November 16, 2025
Haaretz
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_ Standing Together co-director Rula Daood made history by throwing
her hat in to lead Israel's Higher Arab Monitoring Committee,
representing Israel's Arab citizens. The committee's old guard
prevented her - a woman and activist - from running. _

Rula Daood addressing a demonstration against the judicial overhaul
in Manda, northern Israel, in 2023, Credit: Fadi Amun

 

On November 4, Rula Daood became the first woman to apply to lead the
Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, an umbrella organization that
advocates for Arab communities within Israel at the national level.

For Daood, the national co-director of the grassroots movement
Standing Together, this would have been a step from activism into
politics. "I wanted to bring a new face and a new agenda to the
committee," she tells Haaretz. A change, she says, that is badly
needed.

The chairman of the committee sets the political agenda for Arab
Israeli citizens. It is the only elected position on the committee,
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which comprises of Arab Knesset members, local council heads and
representatives of different streams in the Arab community. Until this
weekend, the post was held by former Hadash MK Mohammed Barakeh
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for a decade. The election, which took place on Saturday, was won by
Jamal Zahalka
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former chairman of the Balad party.

"The Higher Committee is supposed to mobilize and organize the Arab
minority in Israel," Daood, 40, said in an interview with Haaretz
before Saturday's election. "It is a powerful place that could bring
Palestinian rights forward, but it hasn't been using its power for the
past 20 years."

The committee was founded when protests among Palestinians against
then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin's right-wing government grew
stronger – ultimately leading to the first intifada in the eighties.
The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee was meant to function as a
unifying independent political organization that would coordinate the
political activities of various Israeli Arab nonprofits, advocacy
groups and other organizations, leading to change at a national level
for Arab and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

"227 Arab Israeli citizens were killed this year, and the feeling is
that nobody really cares," Daood says, referring to the record-high
rates of homicides and gun violence
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devastating Arab communities across Israel. Her candidacy was an
expression of a wider change in the Arab communities and political
establishment, struggling to become more diverse and inclusive to
women.

Daood recalls that she made her decision to put in her candidacy
during a protest in her hometown Kafr Yasif. "Many people were around
me," she says. "Many young people and many women." In contrast, on the
stage were only men. They were the only ones who would speak. "That
was the moment I decided we need a change."

[Some of the thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel that
protested rising murder rates and the government's inaction, in
Arabeh, northern Israel, earlier this month.]
 
[Some of the thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel that
protested rising murder rates and the government's inaction, in
Arabeh, northern Israel, earlier this month.]
 
SOME OF THE THOUSANDS OF PALESTINIAN CITIZENS OF ISRAEL THAT PROTESTED
RISING MURDER RATES AND THE GOVERNMENT'S INACTION, IN ARABEH, NORTHERN
ISRAEL, EARLIER THIS MONTH.

"THE HIGHER COMMITTEE IS SUPPOSED TO MOBILIZE AND ORGANIZE THE ARAB
MINORITY IN ISRAEL," SAYS RULA DAOOD. "IT COULD BRING PALESTINIAN
RIGHTS FORWARD, BUT IT HASN'T BEEN USING ITS POWER FOR THE PAST 20
YEARS."

During the past months, anger within the Arab community about the
committees' lack of action against rising crime and murder rates,
which continues to rise, especially among young people. At a
demonstration
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on November 1 against the violence in the northern town of Arabeh,
protesters reportedly tried to prevent the committees' officials,
including then chairman Barakeh, from speaking.

THE OLD GUARD

Since Daood has not been part of the committee, she needed to be
endorsed by at least six municipalities. "I went to the mayors of
different municipalities, and I got more than six supporters," Daood
explains. But the day before the mayors had to finalize their choice
of candidates, Daood got a call from a committee member telling her
that one mayor withdrew his support for her.

At this point, Daood had six supporters left, still enough for her
candidacy. But in the evening, her phone rang again – another mayor
changed his mind. Later that night, she received a text message
informing her that another mayor had withdrawn his endorsing
signature, making it certain that Daood would not have enough votes.

To Daood it was clear that the mayors had been pressured to draw their
votes. "The committee is very much controlled by old politics, people
who have been holding their positions for decades." It seems they were
afraid of the change, she speculates. "They feel threatened by a new
face and a new agenda, speaking a different language, that can really
stir things up. And they didn't want me to be there."

To her, the problem of leadership is not limited to the Arab political
establishment in Israel. "There is a lack of leadership on the left
that speaks about the change we need," Daood explains. "About the day
after [the war], about real partnership between Israelis and
Palestinians, about how we can change our reality." To her, it is
clear that leaders must focus on what can be done instead of what
cannot.

"Many people don't believe in what they can do," she says. "They don't
believe they have the power." To her, the old political establishment
represented by the committee cannot bring about change. "They don't
have the most progressive kind of ideas. They don't believe in
organizing, in working with communities and with people. This is what
I wanted to change with my candidacy."

 
STANDING TOGETHER CO-DIRECTORS RULA DAOOD, LEFT, AND ALON-LEE GREEN,
HOLDING SIGNS THAT READ, "WE REFUSE TO OCCUPY GAZA."

'I WAS ABLE TO MAKE SOME NOISE'

When the committee opened the registration for the elections and
announced the names of the election committee, all eight members were
men. While this was business as usual in the years before, this time,
the committee faced backlash. Women's rights organizations and
feminist activists spoke out against it.

"When I put my candidacy first, it made a lot of fuss. Nobody really
expected it, and it moved many things," Daood says. "I was able to
make some noise." Four more candidates entered the race, among them
another woman: former MK and feminist activist Neveen Abu Rahmoun.

For Daood, who together with her Standing Together
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co-director Alon-Lee Green became international faces of joint
Palestinian and Israeli resistance
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to the war in Gaza, leading the committee would have been the next
step in her career. With a national election on the horizon, questions
about her future have mounted. Today, she is still unsure about where
she will go from here.

"I honestly don't know," she says. But there are things she is sure
of: "I want to change politics. I want to make a change for my own
people, but I also want the whole Israeli society to understand that I
am a legitimate leader for both Jews and Palestinians in this land."
She would love if this is possible to do through an organization like
Standing Together, she says. "If your question is about the Knesset
– Maybe. Probably. Really, I don't know."

The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee did not respond to Haaretz's
request for comment.

_More articles by Vera Weidenbach._
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_Haaretz_
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is an independent daily newspaper with a broadly liberal outlook both
on domestic issues and on international affairs. It has a journalistic
staff of some 330 reporters, writers and editors. The paper is perhaps
best known for its Op-ed page, where its senior columnists - among
them some of Israel's leading commentators and analysts - reflect on
current events. Haaretz plays an important role in the shaping of
public opinion and is read with care in government and decision-making
circles. Get a __digital subscription_
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