Arab-led alliance signals readiness to support Netanyahu’s opponents in Israel

Ahmad Tibi, a senior member of the Joint List alliance, told The Associated Press that the bloc was prepared to take steps it had previously avoided to remove Netanyahu’s government.

“We want to do things that we did not do in the past in order to remove this criminal government,” Tibi said.

However, cooperation could create political challenges for both sides. The Joint List would have to support an administration that might continue Israel’s military operations and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s opponents would need to work with parties that reject Israel’s identity as a Jewish state.

Following record turnout among Arab voters, Arab-led parties secured a significant presence in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

Tibi said the Joint List was prepared to support an anti-Netanyahu government without joining it. Such an arrangement could make cooperation more acceptable to Jewish-led opposition parties while giving the alliance considerable influence.

Only one Arab party, Ra’am, has previously joined an Israeli government, in 2021. Considered more moderate than the Joint List, Ra’am currently holds eight seats, compared with the Joint List’s 11. Ra’am is also willing to join another government formed by Netanyahu’s opponents, but such an arrangement would still require the Joint List’s support.

Tibi said rejecting cooperation with Arab-led parties would show that Israel was “an ethnocracy, not an absolute democracy for all citizens”.

Joint List’s political positions pose challenge

Palestinians who remained in the territory that became Israel after the 1948 war were granted citizenship and voting rights. They and their descendants now make up around 20 per cent of Israel’s population.

Arab-led political parties have historically faced suspicion among sections of the Jewish Israeli population. This has been reinforced by statements from some Arab lawmakers defending or praising Israel’s adversaries.

The Joint List is a coalition of three left-wing and nationalist parties. It rejects what it describes as the “racist Zionist consensus” and supports cooperation with Jewish Israelis who favour a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

The alliance also rejects Israel’s identity as a Jewish state and calls for equal rights for all citizens.

Many Jewish Israelis view these positions as support for Israel’s enemies, particularly during wartime. Netanyahu has sought to reinforce such perceptions by making unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud against Arab-led parties and portraying them as a national security threat.

Opposition faces dilemma over Arab support

The positions of Arab-led parties have created a dilemma for Netanyahu’s main opponents, led by former general Gadi Eisenkot.

During the election campaign, the opposition accused Netanyahu of failing to prevent the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack and subsequently blocking a public inquiry into the incident. It also argued that his far-right government threatened Israel’s democratic institutions.

The opposition secured 48 seats in the 120-member Knesset, compared with 53 for Netanyahu’s coalition. The Joint List won 11 seats, while Ra’am secured eight, making their support potentially decisive in efforts to form an alternative government.

The Joint List could help an anti-Netanyahu alliance secure power by voting in its favour or abstaining, potentially allowing the opposition to form a government without including the Arab-led bloc in the administration.

However, joining a government could place the alliance’s lawmakers in the position of supporting an administration overseeing military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, which they oppose.

Some of Eisenkot’s allies have welcomed the possibility of Arab support, while others have objected, citing statements by Joint List leaders that they consider damaging to Israel’s legitimacy or supportive of its adversaries.

Tibi acknowledged that an alliance would neither end the wars nor necessarily lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. However, he argued that replacing Netanyahu’s government could improve the lives of Palestinian citizens, including through action against violent crime in Arab communities.

Conditions for cooperation remain unclear

Eisenkot has said Arab-led parties would need to meet certain conditions to enter a political partnership. These include describing Hamas as a terrorist organisation that must be destroyed.

Tibi said those conditions should not apply to parties such as the Joint List that are prepared to support a government from outside the administration.

Both the Joint List and Ra’am have condemned Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack and violence against civilians. However, they have refused to label Hamas a terrorist organisation or call for its destruction, arguing that doing so would justify Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Tibi described both the Hamas attack and Israel’s response as immoral.

The veteran lawmaker has long been a target of attacks from Israel’s right-wing politicians over his association with Arab-led parties. During the 2019 election campaign, Netanyahu used the slogan “Bibi or Tibi?” to warn voters that removing him from office would mean relying on Arab-led parties to form a government.