Israel's Arab Kingmakers Signal Readiness to Help Oust Netanyahu After Record Election Gains

Yousef Jabareen gave one of his first post-election interviews at his family home in Umm al-Fahm, in northern Israel. As head of the Joint List, the country's main Palestinian coalition, he now holds a share of the balance of power, and he used the interview to say that Israel faces a historic opportunity to change direction.

The numbers explain why. Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition lost its majority in Tuesday's election, falling from 68 seats to 53 in the 120-seat Knesset. The Change bloc, a group of Zionist parties led by retired general Gadi Eisenkot, won 48. That leaves the Arab-Israeli parties, with a record 19 seats between them, as potential kingmakers. The Joint List holds 11 of those seats, and the more conservative, Islamist Ra'am holds eight.

Turnout among Arab Israelis, Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who make up 20% of the population, more than doubled to about 80%. Jabareen said the roughly 840,000 Palestinian Israeli voters had one first demand: to be rid of the Netanyahu government, and especially of Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza had no vote.

Jabareen described the past four years as awful: house demolitions, criminal gangs in Arab communities operating without police intervention, and too few resources for Arab municipalities, schools and young people. He also cited racism in many areas of life, including physical attacks on Arabs and police brutality. "So this has been really a very dangerous period," he told the Guardian.

The path to a new government is unclear. Eisenkot and his partners have pledged not to form a unity government with Netanyahu, but he has set conditions for any coalition with Arab parties: they must recognise Israel as a Jewish state, accept compulsory national service, either civil or military, and denounce Hamas as a terrorist organisation. Ra'am and its leader, Mansour Abbas, have signalled they are ready to join an Eisenkot coalition. The Joint List will not. Jabareen said Eisenkot's conditions matter mainly for parties that would sit in the coalition, and that his group will not, because as long as the occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank continues it cannot be part of a government. It would, however, consider supporting one from outside through tactical voting in the Knesset.

Jabareen, 54, a former law professor who leads the socialist Hadash party, has not yet spoken with Eisenkot since the vote, though he confirmed that informal talks among opposition parties are under way. Within the Change bloc, the leaders must agree on a prime ministerial candidate and accept partnership with Arab parties, in or outside the coalition. The rightwing opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman is said to be the most resistant. Joint List officials said it was unclear whether working with Palestinians truly crossed his red lines or whether he was holding out for a top cabinet post.

Jabareen argued that the 67 opponents of Netanyahu in the new Knesset could act even before a government exists. They could change the Knesset speaker and take control of the committee that oversees the legislative agenda. One priority, he said, should be repealing laws passed by the outgoing majority that infringed the independence of the judiciary. He also said that for an opposition minority government to function, it would have to address systemic discrimination against Arab citizens. He asked for equal treatment and a political horizon, including an end to the war and renewed negotiations with Palestinian leaders.

He voiced concern about what Netanyahu might do to hold on. The prime minister has alleged, without evidence, that Arab parties illegally used Qatari funds in the campaign, which Jabareen called a bid to delegitimise Arab political power and a dangerous incitement. He also fears Netanyahu could join Donald Trump in resuming war on Iran as a pretext to delay a political transition, and called for a clear opposition voice against any such move.

Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, is due to summon party leaders as early as Wednesday to hear whom they recommend to try forming the next government. With no bloc holding a clear claim, those consultations, and whether Eisenkot accepts support from outside, will shape what follows.