For Palestinian citizens of Israel, it was a rare moment of political triumph.
Hundreds of thousands voted in record numbers, giving two Arab-led parties their largest-ever number of seats in Israel’s parliament.
Many boycotted past elections, seeing little point. But after years of their communities being demonised or neglected, some of Israel’s most marginalised citizens turned to the ballot box to fight back against the most right-wing government in the country’s history.
“We are here and we’re not on the sidelines,” declared Mansour Abbas, leader of the Ra’am party, as supporters cheered in a wedding hall Tuesday night, watching the exit polls.
The surge makes them a major political force that could enable opposition parties to assemble a coalition to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But the question is whether Netanyahu’s main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, and other opponents will ally with them.
Only once has an Arab-led 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 denied.
Netanyahu and his allies are now turning up the anti-Arab rhetoric even further, making unproven claims that foreign powers bribed voters to back Arab-led parties. In a Thursday post on X, Netanyahu warned against any party forming a government with them, saying it would lead to the “Islamisation of Israel.”
Nearly 840,000 people on Tuesday voted for Ra’am and the Joint List, a coalition of three Arab-led parties, a 64% increase from the last elections in 2022, according to final results from the Central Election Committee.
