Arab Parties Could Decide Israel’s Election — SkimNews
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- Arab parties could hold the balance of power in Israel’s upcoming election, with polls suggesting they may win 13 or 14 of 120 parliamentary seats, enough to tip the balance if neither major bloc secures a majority.
- Mansour Abbas has positioned the United Arab List for coalition participation by placing Jewish centrist MP Yoav Segalovitz second on his slate, signaling a strategic shift toward broader political inclusion.
- Benjamin Netanyahu has campaigned against Arab parties using AI-generated videos and billboards framing opposition leaders as aligned with 'Palestine,' amplifying divisions ahead of the vote.
- Gadi Eisenkot has ruled out forming a government with Arab parties, citing a lack of shared values—a stance critics like Mohammed Magadli call racist and politically motivated.
- Arab Israelis cite rampant gang violence as a top electoral concern, with 53.5% ranking it as most important in a September poll and 252 community members killed in 2023—five times the Jewish homicide rate.
- Israel’s Supreme Court overturned the Central Elections Committee’s decision to disqualify the United Arab List and Joint List over alleged denial of Israel’s status as a Jewish state.
Why it matters: With both major blocs polling near 50 seats, Arab parties holding 13–14 seats could determine Israel’s next government—yet explicit rejections from Jewish-led blocs and state-level discrimination risk entrenching political exclusion despite Arab citizens’ growing mobilization and strategic electoral adaptation.
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