Arab coalition leader offers outside support to remove Netanyahu after election

Yousef Jabareen, leader of Israel’s Joint List, has offered to help opposition parties remove Benjamin Netanyahu from power after Tuesday’s election left Arab-Israeli parties holding the balance in parliament. Speaking to the Guardian, he described the result as a historic opening to redirect the country’s policies and said his coalition would consider supporting an alternative government from outside.

Netanyahu’s governing alliance fell from 68 seats to 53 in the 120-member Knesset, losing its majority. The Change bloc, an alliance of Zionist parties headed by retired general Gadi Eisenkot, secured 48 seats. Arab-Israeli parties won a record 19 seats, with 11 going to the Joint List and eight to the more conservative Islamist party Ra’am. President Isaac Herzog is expected to begin consulting political leaders as early as Wednesday about who should first attempt to form a government.

Participation among Palestinian citizens of Israel more than doubled to approximately 80%. The community represents 20% of Israel’s population, while Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza could not vote. Jabareen said removing Netanyahu’s administration, particularly national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, was the leading demand of roughly 840,000 Palestinian Israeli voters.

Jabareen described the preceding four years as dangerous for Arab communities, citing home demolitions, criminal gangs operating without police intervention, inadequate funding for municipalities and education, racism and police brutality. He said any opposition government relying on his coalition’s support would need to confront longstanding inequality. He also called for an end to the war and renewed negotiations with Palestinian leaders.

Eisenkot and his allies have ruled out a unity government with Netanyahu. However, Eisenkot has said Arab parties seeking to join his coalition must recognise Israel as a Jewish state, accept conscription and condemn Hamas as a terrorist organisation. Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas, has indicated its willingness to participate. Jabareen said those conditions principally concerned parties entering government, something the Joint List would not do while the occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank continued.

Instead, Jabareen said the Joint List could use parliamentary votes to sustain an opposition administration. The 54-year-old former law professor, who also leads the socialist Hadash party, had not spoken with Eisenkot since the election, although informal opposition discussions were taking place. Speaking at his family home in Umm al-Fahm, he said outside support could create opportunities to change policy towards both Arab citizens and the Palestinian people.

Significant obstacles remain. Change bloc leaders must settle on a candidate for prime minister and accept cooperation with Arab parties. Rightwing opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman is reportedly the most resistant. Joint List officials said they could not determine whether his opposition reflected a firm political boundary or an effort to secure a senior cabinet job.

Jabareen argued that Netanyahu’s 67 parliamentary opponents could act before completing government negotiations by replacing the Knesset speaker and taking charge of the committee overseeing its legislative agenda. He said repealing legislation that undermined judicial independence should be among the new parliament’s priorities.

He also voiced concern about Netanyahu’s efforts to retain office. Netanyahu has alleged, without evidence, that Arab parties illegally used Qatari funding during the campaign, accusations Jabareen described as an attempt to delegitimise Arab political influence. Jabareen also feared Netanyahu might join Donald Trump in renewing war against Iran to delay a political transition, and urged the opposition to speak clearly against any such move.