Israel Hayom..
10 September '19..
Link: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/smile-for-the-camera-ayman-odeh/
Today, every shopping center, government office, or even parking garage is covered by security cameras. Neighborhood markets, highways, street corners – we are filmed everywhere, dozens of times a day. There is one goal: to help enforce the law and maintain security. It's only natural and reasonable that the place where we choose our representatives in the Knesset and the fate of the nation for the next few years will have cameras. This is not a violation of privacy or anything else. In any case, a record is kept of every citizen who goes in to vote, so why does it matter if there is also visual documentation, in case suspected irregularities of some kind at a polling station should have to be reviewed?
Voter fraud is a criminal matter, and one that is equally relevant nationwide. In this case, there is no difference between Jews and Arabs. Cameras are necessary in every sector. Why is there such resistance to them? It's only a method of prevention and oversight – a camera won't deter anyone from voting, but it could deter people from trying to commit voter fraud.
Supporters of the bill to put cameras in polling stations argue that it will prevent widespread fraud in the Arab sector, and opponents claim that it will harm the Arab sector. But no one is talking about the root of the problem – the seemingly obvious connection the bill has to the Arab sector, which is something that makes me, an Arab-Israeli, feel particularly bad. If anyone should welcome documentation of what happens at the polls, it's the Arab public, and the truth is that we will benefit more than other sectors from the law to install cameras at the polls.
We – who cry out over the government ignoring the rampant crime and violence in our streets, who complain that our communities are the scenes of frequent street fights and gunfights – we are the ones who should support the move, whose sole purpose is to bolster security and limit crime. We suffer from prejudice and harsh accusations, so if indeed there is widespread voter fraud in Arab communities, it's time to put an end to it. If these accusations are baseless, there is nothing to fear – everything is fine, so why shouldn't we prove it? Either way, we gain.
The person who is riding the wave of the controversy is Joint Arab List leader Ayman Odeh, who along with his party colleagues, is rushing to portray the camera initiative as a move designed to attack the Arab public. In the April 9 election, they used the excuse that cameras put in place by the Likud caused low voter turn-out in the Arab sector. That's just spin: Our low voter turnout has nothing to do with cameras, it is the result of the representatives of the Arab public's failure in the Knesset.
I hope that the bill passes and we are all able to know that the election process – an expression of democracy – will be completed with integrity, without problems or deceit. The camera bill should not be a matter of dispute between the Right and Left, but between those who uphold the law and thieves. There's nothing we need now more than a reason to smile when we go to the polls next Tuesday, and when the Arab party and lawmakers don't give us a reason to smile, at least the cameras might get one out of us.
Yoseph Haddad is the CEO of Together – Vouch for Each Other. an NGO which aims to bridge between the Arab sector of Israeli society with Israeli society as a whole.
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