Israel election: Netanyahu faces political challenge as Arab-led parties win record seats in Knesset

Hundreds of thousands voted in record numbers giving two Arabled parties their largestever number of seats in Israels parliamentMany boycotted past elections seeing little point But after years of their communities being demonised or neglected some of Israels most marginalised citizens turned to the ballot box to fight back against the most rightwing government in the countrys historyWe are here and were not on the sidelines declared Mansour Abbas leader of the Raam party as supporters cheered in a wedding hall Tuesday night watching the exit pollsThe surge makes them a major political force that could enable opposition parties to assemble a coalition to oust Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuBut the question is whether Netanyahus main rival Gadi Eisenkot and other opponents will ally with them Only once has an Arabled party ever served in an Israeli government During the campaign Netanyahu had accused his main opponents of planning to form a coalition with them which Eisenkot deniedNetanyahu and his allies are now turning up the antiArab rhetoric even further making unproven claims that foreign powers bribed voters to back Arabled parties In a Thursday post on X Netanyahu warned against any party forming a government with them saying it would lead to the Islamization of IsraelPalestinian grievances fuelled the surgeMore than 800000 people on Tuesday voted for Raam and the Joint List a coalition of three Arabled parties a more than 60 per cent increase from the last elections in 2022 according to figures from the Central Election CommitteeThe parties won 19 seats in Israels 120member Knesset surpassing the previous record of 15Crowds packed polling places in Arab communities from the Negev Desert to the northern GalileeIn Tarabin a Bedouin village in the Negev Netanyahus party had won majorities the past two elections Turnout nearly doubled on Tuesday and Raam won 93 per cent of the voteThe northern town of Sakhnin had Israels highest voter turnout at 87 per cent Mayor Mazen Ghnaim said voters saw it as an emergency measure to fight rising violent crime in Arab communities and incitement by Netanyahus farright alliesI want to protect my constituents from being killed my children from being attacked at their universities and Arab doctors getting attacked at hospitals said Ghnaim a Raam supporter referring to recent incidents of antiArab violenceThe parties worked hard to overcome past reluctance to vote among Palestinians who have long felt ignored in the halls of power They held community meetings in cities and towns that Jewishled parties mostly ignored A grassroots movement went doortodoor in Bedouin villages to encourage women to voteA reaction to Israels most farright government everVoters and candidates said their heightened participation did not reflect faith in Israeli democracy it was a sign of desperation to unseat NetanyahuTwo of his farright allies Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are responsible for some of Israels most extreme policies and antiArab incitementBen Gvir the national security minister raised alarm on Election Day over Arab turnout telling his supporters If you want this country to remain Jewish and Zionist hellip then get out and voteThe rhetoric also echoed by Netanyahu and Smotrich may have only galvanized Arab votersWe see the government going from bad to worse 52yearold Awni Zoabi said after voting in Nazareth We want to live we want a future for our children and we want a future for ourselvesThe parties offer different visionsPalestinians who managed to stay in Israel after the 1948 war surrounding its creation when hundreds of thousands were expelled or fled today along with their descendants make up more than 20 per cent of the population They have Israeli citizenship including the right to vote but also feel deep solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and the West BankRaam and the Joint List both campaigned on combating crime and securing investment for Arab communities But they offered different visions for how to approach the wider conflictRaam made the advantages of joining a coalition government central to its pitch to voters and said little that could alienate potential Jewish allies It placed a Jewish former police official second on its candidate listIn contrast members of the Joint List called Israels campaign in Gaza a genocide and compared the occupation of the West Bank to apartheid South Africa Most Jewish Israelis ardently reject both accusationsPeople are clever enough to see whats happening Of the two options one is proposing a genocide and the other is proposing apartheid These are the choices bad or worse said Sami Abou Shehadeh the leader of one of the slates partiesStrong showing doesnt guarantee a role in governmentMainstream Israeli parties have long resisted partnering with Arabled parties elected to the Knesset portraying them as threats to Israels Jewish character or questioning their loyalty to the stateNetanyahus opponents welcomed Raam into a shortlived coalition government in 2021 in return offering investment in Arab communities and legal status for unrecognized Bedouin villages facing the threat of demolitionThe Islamist partys inclusion broke a longstanding taboo and gave it newfound political influenceBut given Israels rightward shift it will be difficult for Eisenkot to maintain support if he partners with Arabled parties this time said Tamar Hermann senior research fellow at the Israel Democracy InstituteIsrael she said has been moving away from a liberal democracy and moving toward an ethnic democracy where one ethnicity has advantages over othersRaam and the Joint List could handily give Eisenkot the numbers needed to form a government Both have expressed openness to anything that removes Netanyahu including abstaining from a Knesset leadership vote to lower the threshold Eisenkot would need to win a majorityBut in public rather than court them Eisenkot has set conditions including that they profess that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state and declare Hamas a terrorist organization to be demolishedLeaders of both parties have condemned Hamas Oct 7 2023 attack on Israel but have balked at labeling the group a terrorist organization in part because it would appear to justify Israels devastating campaign in Gaza Abbas acknowledged Israel as a Jewish state in 2021 while some Joint List leaders have questioned whether a country can be both democratic and privilege members of one religionThe conditions of any such partnership are unclearAbbas said Tuesday that he was confident Raam would join a government But his party did not respond to questions this week about whether it would accept Eisenkots conditions or what its own terms wereYousef Jabareen the Joint Lists leader told The Associated Press on Wednesday he had not yet spoken to Eisenkot but was ready for talks He said parties on his slate had not agreed on their conditions but hoped for protections and equality for Palestinian citizens and promises to revive the peace processAbove all he recognized the desire to see Netanyahu goneWe have promised our community to do our best to get rid of this fascist government Jabareen saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever