JERUSALEM (AP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has spent much of his long career recruiting Israel’s Arab minority as a potential fifth column led by terrorist sympathizers, is now openly expressing his support as he re-elects in the country’s fourth vote in less than two years.
Few Arabs are likely to heed his call, and it underscores the desperation of Netanyahu’s political somersault. But the relative absence of incitement against the community in this campaign and the possible disintegration of an Arab party alliance could dampen the rise – to Netanyahu’s advantage. He can even get just enough votes to hold a rigorous election.
Either way, the revelations of Netanyahu have shaken the Arab community. The joint list, an alliance of Arab parties that achieved a record 15 seats in the 120-member Knesset last March, is plagued by a dispute over whether it should work with Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud at a time when less objectionable center-left parties exist. is in disorder.
Its demise would leave the community with even less representation, as it confronts a terrifying wave of crime, coronavirus-induced unemployment and persistent inequality. But given the complexity of Israel’s coalition system, a breakaway Arab party can gain undue influence if it is willing to work with Netanyahu or other traditionally hostile leaders.
The fight came alive last week when Netanyahu traveled to Nazareth, Israel’s largest Arab majority city, on his third visit to an Arab district in less than two weeks. Outside the venue, dozens of people, including a number of Arab MPs, protested against his visit and struggled with the police, even though the mayor welcomed and praised him.
“Netanyahu came like a thief trying to gather votes from the Arab street,” said Aida Touma-Suleiman, a prominent lawmaker from the Joint List. “Your attempt to break down our community from within will not succeed.”
Arabs make up 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 healthcare sector and other professions. But they face widespread discrimination and blame the sluggish Israeli law enforcement for a rising wave of violent crime in their communities.
They have close family ties with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and largely identify with their cause. This has led many Jews to view them as sympathetic to Israel’s enemies, sentiments fueled by Netanyahu and other right – wing politicians.
On the eve of the 2015 election, Netanyahu warned his supporters that Arabs were voting in a mass. During the back-to-back elections in 2019, his campaign is sending observers to the Arab districts and campaigning for cameras in the polling booths, according to what critics say is a gimmick. to intimidate Arab voters and whip up false allegations of election fraud.
These moves struck back spectacularly.
The joint list, a troublesome alliance of Islamists, communists and other leftists, increased the turnout and emerged as one of the biggest blocs in parliament. At times, it seemed like it might help to deny Netanyahu a majority coalition or even appear as the official opposition..
But in May last year, after three scheduled elections in less than a year, Netanyahu formed a coalition with his biggest rival and the joint list was left out in the cold. In the forthcoming election, polls suggest that a coalition of right-wing and centrist parties committed to ending Netanyahu’s nearly twelve-year rule could oust him without the Arab bloc.
No Arab party has ever asked for or invited them to join a ruling coalition.
In Nazareth, Netanyahu claimed that his remarks had been misinterpreted in 2015 – that he had merely warned Arab voters not to support the joint list.
“All the citizens of Israel, Jews and Arabs, must vote,” he said. In other Arab towns, he has visited coronavirus vaccination centers and boasts of his success in securing millions of doses. and encourage residents to be vaccinated.
Netanyahu’s Arab outreach has apparently given the green light to centrist and left-wing politicians to do the same, with less concern that their right-wing rivals will use it against them. Opposition leader Yair Lapid, Netanyahu’s main center-left opponent, said at the weekend that he was open to forming a government with external support from the Joint List.
The joint list, meanwhile, shows signs of breaking up. Mansour Abbas, the head of an Islamic party, has spoken out openly over the past few months to work with Netanyahu to address issues such as housing and law enforcement. An Abbas assistant turned down requests for an interview.
A full breakdown of the joint list could further reduce turnout and leave one or more of its four parties with perhaps too little support to exceed the election threshold.
Thabet Abu Rass, co-director of the Abraham Initiatives, which works to promote equality between Jews and Arabs, says Netanyahu could attract a small number of Arab voters, but that many more of them would boycott the election.
“They’re waiting to see if there’s a joint list or not, and if you ask me, it’s not going to happen,” he said. “There are very deep differences this time.”
A poll conducted in December predicts the Arab rise to about 55%, much lower than the 65% seen last March.
Although Arab parties have fared worse on their own, some believe that the parties may be more effective individually. In Israel’s political system – which requires prospective prime ministers to assemble majority coalitions – small parties often exert great influence.
“When we talk about the Palestinian community in Israel, we are not talking about one bloc, we have different ideologies,” said Nijmeh Ali, a policy analyst at Al-Shabaka, an international Palestinian think tank. “Sometimes you have to break up to gain power.”
Netanyahu appears to be focused on the margins ahead of a tough race that could not only determine whether he stays in office but also whether he secures immunity from prosecution on various corruption charges. With only a few seats, a pragmatic politician like Abbas Netanyahu can determine the fate.
“This is the new thing in Arab politics,” said Arik Rudnitzky, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. “They are ready to negotiate directly with Likud.”
He said this did not mean that they would be part of a governing coalition, but that they could provide outside support to ensure benefits for 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.