Ahmad Tibi says the Joint List could support an opposition government seeking to replace Benjamin Netanyahu without joining its cabinet. (Foto: Instagram)
Arab parties in Israel have signaled they may support an alliance with Jewish-led parties seeking to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power. Ahmad Tibi, a veteran lawmaker and member of the Arab Joint List, said the bloc was prepared to break with decades of political precedent to help form an opposition government. The Joint List could support such an administration without joining its coalition or taking cabinet posts, he said.
The proposal gained significance after Israel’s Oct. 27 legislative election increased Arab representation in the Knesset. Netanyahu’s coalition won 53 of the parliament’s 120 seats, while opposition parties led by Gadi Eisenkot secured 48. The Joint List won 11 seats, and the Arab party Ra’am won eight. Together, the two Arab blocs hold 19 seats and could be pivotal to an opposition effort to reach a parliamentary majority.
Under Tibi’s proposal, the Joint List would back an opposition government in parliamentary votes but remain outside the administration. That arrangement could give Arab parties a role in forming and sustaining a new majority without making them directly responsible for cabinet decisions. It may also offer a way to address opposition factions’ resistance to including Arab parties in a government.
Tibi has acknowledged that an alliance would not end Israel’s wars or halt the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Joint List would also have to explain to its voters why it supported an administration whose positions on the conflict with the Palestinians might not align with their own. Jewish-led opposition parties, meanwhile, would face resistance from some of their voters to working with Arab parties. Some of those factions have questioned statements by Joint List members about Israel and the regional conflict.
Arab parties have rarely participated in Israeli governments. The only Arab party to formally join a governing coalition, according to the source, was Ra’am, which served in the government led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid in 2021. Ra’am is viewed as more willing to take part in government institutions and won fewer seats than the Joint List in the recent election. It has said it is willing to join another government opposed to Netanyahu, but an opposition majority would also depend on support from the Joint List.
