JERUSALEM (AP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has spent much of his long career classifying Israel’s Arab minority as a potential fifth column led by terrorist sympathizers, is now openly courting their support while seeking re-election in the fourth vote country in less than two years.
Few Arabs are likely to respond to his call, underscoring the desperation of Netanyahu’s political somersault. But the relative absence of incitement against the community in this campaign and the potential disruption of an Arab party alliance could decrease attendance – to Netanyahu’s advantage. He may even get enough votes for a tight election.
In any case, Netanyahu’s openings have shaken the Arab community. The Joint List, an alliance of Arab parties that secured a record 15 seats in the 120-member Knesset last March, is divided by a dispute over whether it should work with Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud at a time when center- less questionable left are in disarray.
His death would leave the community with even less representation, in the face of a terrible crime wave, coronavirus-fueled unemployment and persistent inequality. But, given the complexities of Israel’s coalition system, a dissident Arab party could gain overwhelming influence if it is willing to work with Netanyahu or other traditionally hostile leaders.
The fight was vivid last week, when Netanyahu traveled to Nazareth, Israel’s largest Arab-majority city, his third visit to an Arab district in less than two weeks. Off site, dozens of people, including several Arab members of parliament, protested his visit and fought with the police, even when the city’s mayor saluted and praised him.
“Netanyahu came as a thief to try to gather votes from the Arab streets,” said Aida Touma-Suleiman, a prominent legislator on the Joint List. “Your attempt to dismantle our community from the inside will not be successful.”
Arabs represent about 20% of Israel’s population. They have full citizenship, including the right to vote, and have a large and growing presence in universities, the health sector and other professions. But they face widespread discrimination and blame the negligent application of Israeli law for a growing wave of violent crime in their communities.
They have close family ties to the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and are largely identified with their cause. This led many Jews to find them sympathetic to Israel’s enemies, feelings fueled by Netanyahu and other right-wing politicians.
On the eve of the 2015 elections, Netanyahu warned his supporters that the Arabs were voting in “mass”. During the consecutive elections in 2019, his campaign sent observers to Arab districts and pressed for cameras in the voting booths, which critics said was a ploy. to intimidate Arab voters and make false allegations of electoral fraud.
These moves backfired spectacularly.
The Joint List, a hard-to-control alliance of Islamists, Communists and other leftists, boosted turnout and emerged as one of the biggest blocs in parliament. Sometimes it looked like it could help deny Netanyahu a majority coalition or even emerge as the official opposition.
But last May, after three elections stalled in less than a year, Netanyahu formed a coalition with his main rival and the Joint List was dropped. In the coming elections, polls indicate that a coalition of right and center parties committed to the end of Netanyahu’s nearly 12-year government would be able to topple him without the Arab bloc.
No Arab party has ever asked for or been invited to join a governing coalition.
In Nazareth, Netanyahu said that his remarks in 2015 were misinterpreted – that he was only warning Arab voters not to support the Joint List.
“All citizens of Israel, Jews and Arabs, must vote,” he said. In other Arab cities, he visited coronavirus vaccination centers, boasting about his success in obtaining millions of doses and encouraging residents to be vaccinated.
Netanyahu’s Arab reach seems to have given the green light to center and left-wing politicians to do the same, with less concern that his right-wing rivals will use this against them. Opposition leader Yair Lapid, Netanyahu’s main center-left opponent, said over the weekend that he was open to forming a government with external support from the Joint List.
The Joint List, however, shows signs of disruption. Mansour Abbas, the head of an Islamic party, has expressed openness in recent months to work with Netanyahu to address issues such as housing and law enforcement. An aide to Abbas declined interview requests.
A large-scale disruption of the Joint List could further reduce participation and potentially leave one or more of its four parties with very little support to cross the electoral threshold.
Thabet Abu Rass, the co-director of the Abraham Initiatives, who works to promote equality between Jews and Arabs, says that Netanyahu may attract a small number of Arab voters, but that many more would simply boycott the election.
“They are waiting to see if there will be a Joint List or not, and if you ask me, it will not happen,” he said. “There are many profound differences this time around.”
Poll held in December The Arab participation forecast is around 55%, much lower than the 65% seen last March.
Although Arab parties have historically performed worse on their own, some feel that parties can be more effective individually. In Israel’s political system – which requires candidates for prime ministers to form majority coalitions – small parties often exercise disproportionate influence.
“When we talk about the Palestinian community in Israel, we don’t talk about a bloc, we have different ideologies,” said Nijmeh Ali, a political analyst at Al-Shabaka, an international Palestinian think tank. “Sometimes you need to split up to gain power.”
Netanyahu appears to be focused on the margins ahead of a heated dispute that may determine not only whether he will remain in office, but whether he guarantees immunity from prosecution on multiple charges of corruption. With just a few chairs, a pragmatic politician like Abbas could determine Netanyahu’s fate.
“This is a novelty in Arab politics,” said Arik Rudnitzky, a researcher at the Israel Institute of Democracy. “They are ready to have direct negotiations with Likud.”
He said that this does not mean that they will be part of a government coalition, but that they can offer external support to guarantee benefits to the Arab public. “It could be a win-win situation,” he said.
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Associated Press reporters, Areej Hazboun in Jerusalem and Ami Bentov in Nazareth, Israel, contributed to this report.