Arab leaders urge high turnout to help oust Netanyahu in Israeli election
Palestinian Arab leaders in Israel are urging members of the country’s Arab minority to turn out in large numbers in next week’s election, hoping to help unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and end the country’s most right-wing government.
The Arab minority, which makes up about 21% of Israel’s population, could influence the outcome by helping an anti-Netanyahu bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot secure enough support to form a government.
“We can ensure the formation of a new government of change,” Mansour Abbas, leader of the United Arab List party, told Reuters at his office in Nazareth, Israel’s largest Arab city.
Opinion polls suggest Eisenkot’s alliance of centrist, right-wing and left-wing parties could win the most seats but fall short of a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. It may need support from Arab parties, either as coalition partners or to sustain a minority government.
Abbas said his party wanted to replace the right-wing government, end the wars, halt settlement expansion and address the failure to stop attacks by Israeli settlers. He also called for a government that could bring shared security and peace for Palestinians and Israelis.
Eisenkot, however, has ruled out joining forces with Arab parties, citing a lack of shared values and their refusal to designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
If neither bloc can form a workable government, Israel could face prolonged political deadlock and another election in 2027, leaving Netanyahu in office in the meantime.
Netanyahu’s campaign has used doctored images and AI-generated videos depicting Eisenkot embracing Arab leaders, apparently seeking to portray his rivals as aligned with the Arab parties.
Abbas has previously demonstrated that such political partnerships are possible. In 2021, he became the first Arab Muslim politician to join an Israeli governing coalition, serving in a government led by Naftali Bennett. That administration collapsed after 18 months, partly because of disagreements over the occupied West Bank.
This time, Abbas said he hoped to overcome differences with Jewish parties. He has given the second spot on his party’s candidate list to Yoav Segalovitz, a former Jewish police official, in what he described as a message of partnership between Arab and Jewish citizens.
The election will be Israel’s first since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, and is widely viewed as a referendum on Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister.
Polls project Eisenkot’s bloc would win 52 seats, compared with 50 for Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist alliance. Abbas’ party is expected to secure five seats, while the Joint List, an alliance of three Arab parties, could win eight.
Arab voters’ frustration with Netanyahu and far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, alongside rising crime in Arab communities, could encourage greater participation.
Last week, Smotrich proposed a plan to “Judaise” areas around Nazareth and in southern Israel where many Arab citizens live, drawing comparisons with settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
At a campaign event near Nazareth’s Church of the Annunciation, 74-year-old Gassan Bsoul said the need to vote was greater than ever.
“The danger is greater than in the past,” he said.
Israeli pollsters expect Arab turnout to exceed levels recorded in the 2022 and 2020 elections. The Stat-Net Research Institute projects turnout of 63%, up from 56% in 2022.
While Abbas is seeking a possible role in government, Joint List leaders say they could exert influence from outside the coalition. Ahmad Tibi, a leader of the alliance, said it was prepared to form an external support bloc for an Eisenkot-led government.
Tibi added that the Joint List would support a proposal to establish a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attack, a priority shared by Eisenkot and his allies.
“Our top priority is getting rid of the extreme right-wing government of Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir,” Tibi said.