Ra'am and Joint List Hold Record 19 Knesset Seats, Emerging as Kingmakers in Israel's Deadlocked Vote

Two Arab-led parties, Ra'am and the Joint List, have together won 19 seats in Israel's Knesset, the highest total ever for Arab-led parties, according to the Associated Press. Palestinian citizens of Israel make up about a fifth of the country's population, and they have the right to vote and to sit in parliament. In an election that left neither side with a majority, those 19 seats may decide what comes next.

The count leaves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc at 53 seats and the opposition at 48. If both Arab-led parties backed the opposition, it would reach 67, well past the 61 needed. But the arithmetic does not by itself produce a government, and the two parties have very different ideas about what they would be willing to do.

Ra'am, whose Hebrew name stands for the United Arab List, is a moderate Islamist party led by Mansour Abbas. It argues that taking part in coalition talks, and in government, is how Arab communities get resources and policy change. In 2021 it became the first independent Arab party to join an Israeli governing coalition, backing the government of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid that ended Netanyahu's earlier stretch as prime minister. Speaking to AFP in Nazareth before the vote, Abbas said Ra'am wanted to be an influential partner so it could bring decisions to the next government's table and address the major problems facing Arab society. He said the party would not join a coalition with Netanyahu, and that its option was to partner with the opposition bloc led by Eisenkot.

The most pressing of those problems, in Abbas's telling, is violent crime. AFP reported, citing the Abraham Initiatives coexistence organisation, that more than 170 Arab-Israelis had been killed in 2026. Ra'am put a Jewish candidate on its list to underline its message: Yoav Segalovitz, a former senior police official. Abbas called the choice a positive commitment to Arab-Jewish partnership and said Segalovitz brings considerable professional expertise in fighting crime.

The Joint List, headed by Yousef Jabareen, is a alliance of three groups from communist, left-wing and Palestinian nationalist traditions. It centres on equality for Arab citizens, Palestinian rights and opposition to policies it considers discriminatory. Jabareen, a university professor who specialises in human rights, told AFP the list could serve as a safety net for an alternative to Netanyahu's government. He drew a line at joining one, though. He said he saw no government in the near future that the party could be part of, citing the war in Gaza, settler terrorism in the West Bank, and racist policies and legislation aimed at Arab citizens. The party would cooperate with opposition parties, he said, depending on their response to its proposals. "We are not in anyone's pocket, and we are not giving anyone a blank check. We have demands," he said.

There is resistance on the other side too. Reuters reported before the election that Eisenkot had ruled out forming a government with the parties most Arab voters were expected to back, citing a lack of shared values. The wars that followed the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack have made such cooperation more contentious than it was in 2021. AP reported that the opposition's options include seeking Arab-party support, forming a unity government with Netanyahu, or trying other parliamentary arrangements.

The result has also brought allegations of voter fraud and foreign interference from Netanyahu and his Likud party. He accused Arab parties of benefiting from irregularities, but Reuters reported he offered no evidence. Ahmad Tibi of the Joint List told Reuters the campaign was meant to keep Eisenkot from considering a government that relied on outside support from Arab parties. Israel's election authorities said there was no basis to suggest the vote's integrity had been systematically compromised. The Shin Bet said its inquiry into suspected foreign interference should not cast suspicion on Arab voters as a community. President Isaac Herzog called for investigations while warning against tarnishing an entire community.

Once the results are certified, Herzog will consult party leaders and decide who gets the first mandate to form a government. The opposition must then decide whether it will seek support from Ra'am and the Joint List. If no one can assemble 61 lawmakers, Israel could face another election, with Netanyahu staying on as caretaker prime minister in the meantime.