Arab parties hold the key as Israel struggles to form a government
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Israel → hold → government
- Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot appears best positioned to form Israel’s next government, with Arab-led parties’ endorsements giving his bloc 67 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
- But the coalition remains fragile: Key Jewish Israeli parties reject governing alongside Arab lawmakers.
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parties → appear → lawmakers
Benjamin Netanyahu, who has served as prime minister 19 years, faces arguably the most consequential fight of his storied political career.
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who → serve → career
When Israeli President Isaac Herzog announces his choice for who can try to form a governing coalition on Sunday, he’ll be making a pivotal decision in a contested election that many see as Israel’s most fateful.
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many → announce → Israel
Before Herzog are two bitter rivals: Longtime incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud party versus Gadi Eisenkot, who leads the center-right Yashar party and once served as Netanyahu’s military chief of staff.
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who → lead → staff
As of Thursday, after days of consultations between Herzog and the parties that won a place in the 120-seat Knesset, Eisenkot appears to have the advantage.
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Eisenkot → win → advantage
When no party prevails in the parliament, the president — an otherwise largely ceremonial figure — selects which party can lead in forming a government.
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party → prevail → government
In last month’s election, Eisenkot’s opposition bloc, which includes several parties, gained 48 seats, and picked up 19 more after Arab-led parties said they will support him, for a total of 67.
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they → include → 67
The Arab-led parties, which gained a record number of seats after unprecedented voter turnout by Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, are now in the unlikely position of kingmakers.
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which → lead → kingmakers
While the votes from Tuesday’s election are still being counted, Gadi Eisenkot’s centrist party, Yashar, along with other opposition allies, has the clearest path to power if it can join forces with Arab-led parties.
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it → count → parties
Netanyahu and his right-wing allies garnered 46 seats, Herzog said.
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Herzog → garner → seats
United Torah Judaism, a party focusing on ultra-Orthodox Jews that wants to maintain a military service exemption for religious students, has traditionally supported Netanyahu, but has so far refused to support either candidate.
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that → focus → candidate
Until a coalition is formed, Netanyahu, who has served 19 years over three tenures as prime minister, remains the head of a caretaker government.
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who → form → government
If neither candidate succeeds in forming a government, another election must be held.
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election → succeed → government
Eisenkot’s numbers make clear that he should take the first stab at forming a government, Herzog said, but it was “not entirely clear” that Eisenkot will succeed given what Herzog called “the mutual vetoes between the blocs and within the blocs themselves.”
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Herzog → make → blocs
Eisenkot must rely in large part on a fragile and contentious grouping of parties that have yet to prove they would be willing to work together beyond toppling Netanyahu.
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they → rely → Netanyahu
Key to negotiations will be the Arab-led parties, including the Joint List, a three-party alliance with 11 seats.
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parties → lead → seats
The Joint List rejects Zionist parties that define Israel as a Jewish state.
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that → reject → state
It also calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital.
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It → call → capital
There’s also Raam, an Islamist group that takes a more practical view of Israeli politics, with eight seats.
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that → ’ → seats
In 2021 Raam joined an Israeli governing coalition, making it the first independent Arab party to do so.
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it → join → coalition
The Joint List does not plan to become part of any incoming administration.
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List → plan → administration
Instead, the main objective, according to Joint List head Yousef Jabareen, is clear: “We will do everything to remove the greatest threat to all of us,” he wrote on X on Thursday, “which is the continuation of the rule of Netanyahu.
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which → accord → Netanyahu
But Jabareen added that the Joint List would demand the government stop race-baiting and demonizing the country’s Arab population.
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government → add → population
The alliance will also call for increased investment, a more concerted fight against organized crime in Arab-dominated areas, and “an end to the occupation and the wars and a choice of life and peace.
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alliance → call → life
“Because the two peoples who live here deserve to live with dignity, equality, and peace,” Jabareen wrote in his post.
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Jabareen → live → post
Israelis vote for parties, not single candidates.
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Israelis → vote → parties
The parties then form alliances to create a majority coalition.
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parties → form → coalition
In the country’s 78-year history, no single party has won a majority in the 120-member parliament, or Knesset.
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party → win → parliament
Even without joining the government, by assisting Eisenkot’s bloc to take power, Arab-led parties would have some leverage to steer policy, said Diana Buttu, a lawyer and former legal advisor to the Palestine Liberation Organization.
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Buttu → join → Organization
“They’re saying, ‘We will push from behind, but our pushing is not cost-free.’
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pushing → say → ?
It’s not holding on to a ministry, sure.
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It → hold → ministry
But it’s having a say in matters that impact our society,” Buttu said.
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Buttu → have → society
“They will try to have a say over who the ministers are, what laws get passed and don’t get passed, and on matters that impact the Palestinian community in general but equality more broadly.”
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that → try → community
Raam, meanwhile, has said it would be willing to join an anti-Netanyahu administration.
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it → say → administration
But any Arab-led party participation would be at odds with other members of Eisenkot’s coalition, many of whom view Palestinian citizens of Israel as fifth columnists and a threat to national security.
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many → lead → security
“Eisenkot won’t be able to form a government with all those parties,” said Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli political analyst and pollster, adding that at least three parties in Eisenkot’s four-party bloc have conveyed that they would not want to be in a government with Arab parties.
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they → form → parties
The most vociferous opposition has come from Avigdor Lieberman, head of the right-wing secular Yisrael Beiteinu party.
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opposition → come → party
“Lieberman is completely against it, and he’s put a boycott on building a government with any Arab parties,” Scheindlin said, adding that Lieberman has shown flexibility on the issue of conscription in an attempt to bring ultra-Orthodox parties into the fold.
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Lieberman → put → fold
Eisenkot, meanwhile, has sought to stabilize his coalition by imposing conditions he hopes will mollify his Jewish Israeli partners.
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he → seek → partners
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
