Post by Fr David Neuhaus SJ | 17 August 2026
Let’s talk straight – Part 1
In recent years, Israeli and Palestinian writers, film makers, artists, have tried to express the frustrations, hopes, and despair of those caught in the conflict in Palestine/Israel. In my book Conquest or Leaven, I quote at length from a 2021 song, composed and performed by the Jewish Israeli Uriya Rosenman and Palestinian Arab citizen of Israel Sameh Zakout, both committed to equality, justice and peace. I think that their 2021 song, “Let’s talk straight”, still expresses brilliantly the situation within Israel, making clear the regime of discrimination that divides Jewish Israeli and Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel.
The song’s lyrics constitute a conversation between a Jewish Israeli and a Palestinian Arab, both citizens of Israel. The framework is the situation within the state of Israel (not representing the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip).
The final line of the song expresses an important starting point for any talk about ending the conflict in Palestine/Israel: “We both have no other country, and this is where the change begins.”
I have reproduced here the words of the song with notes to explain terminology that might not be understandable to those who do not live in Palestine/Israel. The lyrics are in Hebrew and Arabic.
To watch the song here
Uriya:
Let’s talk straight.
I don’t get what you Arabs are mad about.
You want equal rights and to live in our country, but you don’t serve in the IDF (1).
Hanin Zuabi, Ahmad Tibi (2). No wonder we always elect Bibi (3).
You flocked the ballots and got screwed over again, believing in co-existence is just being naïve.
So yeah, when I hear that [Arab] accent, I’m always suspicious.
Just don’t cry “racism;” stop the whining.
You identify as a Palestinian, so how can we be neighbors??
Listen, it’s fucked up. Wherever there are Arabs – there are terror attacks and you actually expect to get into night-clubs.
Why don’t you stop harassing our women?? I mean, you’re still stuck in the past. ‘Murder for family honor’, come on what the fuck??
You live in clans, fire rifles at weddings, drive like assholes, abuse your animals, steal cars, beat your own women and then always complaining – when will you start fulfilling your duties?!
We seem doomed.
Even a Bedouin Arab wearing uniform (4) seems suspicious to me.
Well, how can we talk about unity? For every Arab doctor and pharmacist there’s one that prefers to live separately, so what, just wait for some “Mahmoud” to grab a knife and scream “kill all the Jews!”?!
There are no free meals. Learn how to speak proper Hebrew, let’s start there. Pay taxes and build legally like everyone else (5). Forget the Quran already and open up to the world!
I’m positive. I’m not racist, my gardener is Arab. I’m not racist. I buy meat at ‘Hinawi’ (6) and also hookahs (7) from some Arab in Jaffa.
I just lost hope. Hard to imagine the day when we could live in harmony.
Guess Kahane (8) was right when he shouted “Separation.”
Maybe you are better off in Gaza and the West Bank. (9)
I’m not racist, I swear, but there’s a cultural abyss between us and there’s a reason Judaism is about life, repairing the world and free love, and you educate children to hate in the name of Islam, for God’s sake!
And all you care about is Allah and Naqba (10) and Jihad (11) and the honor that controls your urges.
Leaders that preach to fight everyone else.
A blind public that doesn’t think and just follows like sheep. Complain about everything, cry about how bad it is.
Blame everyone else instead of looking in the mirror.
Give us some more reasons to be afraid and avoid trying to come closer and live together, seems there’s nothing left to do.
You’re just ungrateful.
Forget serving in the IDF, why not do national service instead?
How dare you take from the country’s budgets? If you don’t serve the country, I consider you enemies, you Arabs!
I’m not racist. Just keeping distance that’s all. Tzachi married Lucy (12), yeah right, he’s not a leftist. A star of ‘Fauda’ and an Arab, that’s just cheap publicity.
You’ve proven it’s possible otherwise. After all, you’re already in the Knesset (13) and the national soccer team, but even there, you don’t really want to share.
Trojan horse, back stabber, Amalek descendants (14). Mix the stucco, Ahmed! (15) You’ve always been good at that. Just don’t do an “Arab job;” (16) don’t be sloppy. If you’re not satisfied, there’s always a substitute. We’ll replace you with some Sudanese (17) – how’s that??
I’m not a racist. I know there’s another side to the story, I’m not tripping. I’m not racist. We share this country, but the hate never stops. Wish our reality was different. I’m not a racist, I swear.
Sameh:
Let’s talk straight.
You Jews forgot what it’s like being a minority. You started as a melting pot, but now you’re all about nuclear reactors, apartheid and racism.
And enough with the cultural bullshit. Half of your lexicon is Arabic words. “Sababa, Dahka, Yalla, Bassa, Achla Dawwin” (18).
For real homie – you’ll never understand true Arabic.
Enough, I am Palestinian and that’s it, so shut up.
Even if 2000 years passed, I’m still here standing strong. Afraid of my language, you are ignorant, your time has passed.
I don’t support terror, I’m against violence. But 70 years of occupation – of course there will be resistance.
When you do a BBQ and celebrate independence (19), the Naqba is my grandmother’s reality, motherfucker!
You say, “A good Arab is a dead Arab” and then actually complain that I don’t serve.
This government makes me a second-class citizen. Nation-State Bill (20) only adds to the mess.
The anthem doesn’t represent me nor does the Star of David (21).
Installing streetlights in our neighborhood is a celebration.
The country sees me as a terrorist, not a human being. Don’t talk about equal burden, when we have no equality.
First thing first – sit down, shut up, and listen.
How will I open a business if I cannot get into a bar? Mizrahi Jews also eat shit because of the similarity, don’t they? (22) This is not normal.
In 1948, you kicked out my family. The food was still warm when you broke into our homes, occupying and then denying; the truth isn’t easy.
You can’t speak Arabic and you know nothing about your neighbor. You don’t want me to live next to you, but I built your house. (23)
You don’t know the accelerated heartbeats every visit at the airport. “Feeling like a VIP”, guards on each side – you have no idea! (24)
And everything you say is bullshit. “You have 22 Arab countries”, “Are you a Christian? You don’t look like one.” (25)
I’m sick of this! I am Sameh from Ramla – I will never forget where I came from! I’m not racist, I’m mad. I miss my family, haven’t seen them in a long time.
Yeah right, “educating to hate in the name of Islam.”
For years you’re committing genocide in Gaza, so much spilled blood! And all you care about is money and power and the occupation and ruling as the “chosen people”.
You think you’ve been through the Holocaust so everything is allowed. You ruined Jaffa and Acre what will happen tomorrow?! (26)
What, are you crying? You’re not those who were deported. You were respected guests at our homes while murdered in Europe.
Giving me a passport, you aren’t doing me no favor. Even if my home is destroyed, fuck it, I hold my head up high.
Enough… I’m standing tall. I’m not one of those Arabs you tame. I have dreams and ambitions; I want to fly high.
Hear me out, I’m not transparent, remember this face!
You must admit you’re a racist people. Even the “state of Tel Aviv” and all the other leftists, but at least they try not to see us as different.
I’m not racist, but I had enough.
Thought I’m in a nightmare and only after waking up I realized my life is not worth a penny, I just want to live. And I’m being deprived of the beautiful life I dreamed of.
You take care of yourself, but you hurt me. You are going to learn to accept me, I’m an Arab.
If we would only open our eyes and hears, my friend, we’d see there’s no difference between a priest, an imam, and a rabbi.
I’m not racist. I want to make my son proud for attempting the impossible.
I’m not racist.
We both have no other country, and this is where the change begins.
1. IDF stands for the Israel Defense Forces – the Israeli army.
2. Hanin Zuabi and Ahmad Tibi are Palestinian Arab politicians in Israel, often accused of being Palestinian nationalists and supporters of “terrorism”.
3. Bibi is the diminutive for Binyamin and refers to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
4. Some Bedouin are drafted into the Israeli army alongside the Druze and Circassians.
5. Palestinian Arab citizens are often accused of not paying taxes and building illegally. It is much more difficult for Palestinian Arabs to get building permits than for Jewish Israelis.
6. Hinawi is family business that sells meat and alcohol.
7. Hookahs are Arabic water pipes.
8. Rabbi Meir Kahane, a US born Jewish radical, who proposed expelling Palestinian Arabs from the Jewish state, which should be a Jewish theocracy, including from the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.
9. Some Jewish Israelis claim that if Palestinian Arabs do not want to live in a Jewish ethnocentric state, they might be better off in Gaza and the West Bank.
10. Naqba the Arabic term, meaning catastrophe, to describe the events of the 1948 War and the continuing war against Palestinians, comprising ethnic cleansing, occupation and discrimination.
11. Jihad is the Arabic term for struggle, used by Muslims both to describe the internal, spiritual battle against negative inclinations and the external, religious struggle against the enemies of Islam.
12. Tzachi HaLevi, a high-profile Jewish Israeli actor who starred in the popular Israeli television series “Fauda” married Lucy Aharish, a well-known Palestinian Arab citizen of Israel. Mixed marriages are rare in Israel and this couple attracted a lot of media attention.
13. There are Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel who serve as members of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) and parties that are Palestinian Arab. They have almost always been excluded from sharing power or involvement in decision making.
14. Relying on an expression found in the Pentateuch, Palestinians (and other enemies of the Jewish people) have been characterized as Amalek descendants, an enemy of the people in Biblical times. According to Deuteronomy 25:19 “you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven”.
15. Traditionally, many Arab men have found work in the construction industry.
16. The racist expression “Arab job” in Hebrew means a job badly done.
17. Sudanese, Chinese, Indian migrant laborers have been brought in to replace Arab construction workers, taking jobs from the local population and creating a large presence of marginalized and disenfranchised migrants.
18. Contemporary Hebrew is full of slang expressions taken from spoken Arabic, like Sababa – great, Dahka – a joke, Yalla – let’s go, Bassa – disappointment, Achla Dawawin – great show off.
19. BBQs are a common, popular Israeli way to mark Independence Day.
20. The 2018 Nation-State Bill was voted in as a basic law in the Israeli parliament, affirming that the state of Israel is a Jewish state (rather than the state of all its citizens).
21. The Israeli national anthem, HaTikvah (The Hope), is a Zionist song, expressing the Jewish longing for the Land of Israel, and the Star of David is emblazoned on the Israeli flag. Both of these are uniquely meaningful for Jewish Israelis.
22. Mizrahi (Oriental) Jews are those Jews who are from Arab countries and are sometimes mistaken for Palestinian Arabs.
23. Most of those working in construction in Israel are Palestinian Arabs or migrant workers.
24. The lines describe the treatment of Palestinian Arabs when they travel through Israeli airports and are targeted for special security measures.
25. Sameh Zakout is a Christian from Ramleh. Many Jewish Israelis believe that Palestinian Arabs are synonymous with Muslims, identifying Christians as coming from Europe.
26. Jaffa and Acre were both important and prosperous Palestinian Arab cities until the 1948 War, when they were both conquered and largely emptied of their Palestinian Arab residents.