QALANSUWA, Israel – After years of alienating Israeli Arab voters from Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now courting them, hoping they have the key to remaining in power.
Netanyahu has long campaigned against Israel’s Arab citizens, who make up about 20% of the country’s population, accusing its leaders of supporting terrorism and warning that increasing their voting power could remove their right-wing government from power. In 2019, Arab analysts and voters accused his party of trying to suppress Arab votes by installing cameras at polling stations.
Now, ahead of the March 23 national elections, Netanyahu, Israel’s oldest leader, hopes that Israeli Arab votes can boost his party enough to help him form a government. He and his political allies are trying to exploit discontent among Arabs with their own leadership, while offering the promise of a bigger role in the government to solve the growing problems of crime and poverty.
But Netanyahu faces skepticism and even hostility from many Israeli Arabs because of its upheaval.
“Netanyahu is a great liar, he sees us as subjects and not as citizens. He doesn’t have enough Jews – so he came to play with us, the Arabs, “said Ayman Odeh, president of the Joint List, a group of political parties that largely represents the country’s Arab population, in an interview with Israel Army Radio . During a campaign in Nazareth in January, protesters, some waving Palestinian flags, accused Netanyahu of trying to divide the Arab community and withdraw some of his votes.