The two Arab parties – the United Arab List and the Joint List – are set to almost double their representation because of a surge in turnout among Arab Israelis, who account for about a fifth of the population and often describe themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Mahdi Kabaha from the Arab-majority city of Umm al-Fahm, who campaigned to get out the Arab vote, described the result as “historic”.
“Arab citizens came out and said clearly: we want a real say in this country,” he said.
The head of the Joint List, Yousef Jabareen, told the BBC that Arab voters had been motivated in part by the opportunity to remove far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from office, whom he accused of racism and “provocation against our community”.
Ben-Gvir, the leader of the Jewish Power party, has called for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, Jewish settlement of Gaza, and the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians. Several Western countries have imposed sanctions on him for incitement against Palestinians.
United Arab List leader Mansour Abbas, who served in a short-lived governing coalition formed after the 2021 elections, said on Tuesday night that he hoped “the numbers will work out and we, the Change Bloc and the UAL, can ensure that there are 61 Knesset seats”.
The leader of the left-wing Democrats party, Yair Golan, told his partners in Eisenkot’s bloc that there was an “opportunity to form a change government in partnership” with the Arab parties and replace Netanyahu’s coalition.
“We have no future here if we don’t stop being afraid. And if we don’t put an end to racism,” he wrote on X.
Eisenkot has previously raised objections or attached conditions to that kind of alliance, including recognising Israel as Jewish and democratic, and Hamas as a terrorist organisation that must be destroyed. The right-wing parties in his bloc, meanwhile, have flatly rejected it.
“The opposition parties cannot dictate any conditions,” Jabareen said. “If the opposition in Israel are willing to afford real and substantive change, and an alternative for the dangerous, extreme-right-wing government… they will have to negotiate with us.”
