Arab parties offer outside support to Eisenkot to replace Netanyahu
Joint List lawmaker Ahmad Tibi says Arab parties will support an alternative administration without joining the government.
Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi has offered the Joint List's support to opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot to help replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's outgoing coalition. Speaking to Channel 12 on Friday, Tibi stated that Arab lawmakers are ready to back an alternative administration from outside the coalition.
Tibi clarified that the alliance does not seek cabinet roles or ministerial positions. He said that while they do not want to be part of the government, change will not happen without the Arab parties.
The offer follows a political stalemate after the latest election, where neither the Netanyahu-led bloc nor the opposition secured enough seats to form a government alone. The Joint List won 11 seats and Ra'am secured eight, giving the Arab parties 19 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
Joint List chairman Yousef Jabareen said informal talks have started with Eisenkot, Democrats leader Yair Golan, and members of Naftali Bennett's B'Yachad party. Jabareen said the alliance's conditions include a diplomatic process for a Palestinian state, a plan to address violent crime in Arab municipalities, and an end to home demolitions.
Jabareen attributed the increase in Arab voter turnout, from 38 per cent in 2022 to nearly 80 per cent, to a desire to remove Netanyahu and coalition figures Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. He described the election as an existential situation for the Arab public.
The Joint List also dismissed allegations of foreign interference. Tibi rejected claims of illicit funding from Qatar, while Jabareen called the allegations dangerous slander.