Israel’s Arab leaders urge high turnout to help remove Netanyahu

Nazareth, Israel. Palestinian leaders in Israel are calling for strong Arab participation in next week’s election to help oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and end the country’s most right-wing government to date. The Arab minority accounts for 21% of the population, making its turnout potentially important to an opposition bloc headed by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.

Arab votes could shape coalition options

Israel’s Arab citizens, who have Palestinian heritage, could help shift the balance towards an administration without Netanyahu through higher electoral participation.

Opinion polls indicate that Eisenkot’s alliance, bringing together parties from the centre, right and left, will attract the largest share of votes but lack a majority. It would therefore require backing from Arab parties, either through coalition membership or external support for a minority administration.

Yet Eisenkot has ruled out governing alongside the Arab parties expected to receive most Palestinian Israelis’ votes, arguing that they do not share common values.

Abbas sees scope for negotiations

Mansour Abbas, the Islamist leader of the United Arab List and a dentist who entered politics, told Reuters at his office in Nazareth, Israel’s largest Arab city by population, that Arab voters could help bring a different government into office.

Abbas believes electoral calculations could create opportunities for manoeuvre, potentially after polling day, despite Eisenkot’s current position.

He said his party wanted to remove the right-wing administration, end the wars and its policies, halt settlement expansion and tackle the failure to prevent attacks by settlers. He also called for an administration that would deliver peace and shared security for Israelis and Palestinians.

Eisenkot maintains his rejection

Speaking on a podcast this month, Eisenkot reiterated that he would not ally with any Arab party. Among the reasons he gave was their refusal to designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation.