Elections in Israel: a Jewish supercop candidate on an Arab list, a “revolution”

The twists and turns of Israeli political life can hold many surprises: unnatural alliances, obscure Byzantine strategies, reversals of fortunes or changes… Monday, August 31, the announcement of the candidacy of Yoav Segalovitz, former centrist deputy and former deputy minister for National Security between 2021 and 2022, on one of the two Arab lists in the running for the October 27 election is completely unprecedented

Yoav Segalovitz is an Israeli “supercop”, who has become known in recent years for his action against organized crime and corruption in Israel. Quite the opposite of a sweet dreamer. The former MP, who resigned from the Knesset at the beginning of August, explained in these terms his candidacy on the “United Arab List”, the Ra’am (its acronym in Hebrew) of Mansour Abbas, also a former minister in the short-lived government of Bennett and Lapid between 2021 and 2022.

“I am a Jew, a Zionist, a secularist, an officer in the IDF and a police commissioner in Israel. Mansour is an Arab, a practicing Muslim and a conservative. What unites us is that we are both Israelis, and that is our common identity. Yes, there are differences between us, yes, there is a not simple history between Arabs and Jews in this country. But there is a common future.”

Also read“Peace is our future”, plea of ​​a Palestinian and an Israeli for reconciliation

Since October 7, such a declaration has been a UFO in the Israeli political landscape where calls for revenge, murder or the deportation of Palestinians from the occupied territories and even from Israel are not rare.

The general interest in bringing Jews and Arabs together

For Denis Charbit, professor of political science at the Open University of Israel, we can even speak of a “revolution”. “October 7 swept away the idea that we can cooperate with an Arab party, however moderate it may be. The parties of the center which had invited the Ra’am party to the coalition they had formed in 2021 and 2022 are paralyzed. They are giving in to the hegemony of the right which presents the participation of an Arab party in the government as a moral prohibition after the massacres of October 7.”

Indeed, the hawk Naftali Bennett and the centrist Yair Lapid, in presenting their joint candidacy in April to dethrone Netanyahu, had explicitly excluded the participation of “non-Zionist” parties, namely Arab parties as well as parties representing ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Also readElections in Israel: the hawk Bennett and the centrist Lapid, “Together” to dethrone Netanyahu

Yoav Segalovitz believes that “the common assertion that, after October 7, it is impossible to establish a political partnership with Arab parties is absurd and false.” On August 31, in front of the press, his partner Mansour Abbas sought to reassure his voters by presenting them with the new number two on his list. “I know what people will say. They will ask me, ‘Why would an Arab need a Jewish police commander?’ My answer is simple: I’m not looking for someone who looks like me. I’m looking for someone who knows how to do their job.”

“Mansour Abbas, who has a pragmatic approach to political action, declares that the number one problem for Arab-Palestinian society is the criminality of the underworld which is rife in the Arab environment” explains Denis Charbit. “The toll from January to August 2026 amounts to 166 deaths, and more than 200 last year. However, Segalovitz, who spent his career in the Israeli police, was precisely responsible for the fight against this crime, and had obtained encouraging results by reducing the number of victims” adds the Franco-Israeli academic.

Legitimize the participation of Arab parties in a coalition

The announcement made by the two men was welcomed positively by the main leaders of the opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu who will undoubtedly need the support of the parties representing Israeli Arabs in the future Knesset.

A September 2 poll by Channel 13 gives the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot and that of Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies tied with 53 seats. The two Arab parties total 14 seats. Arabs in Israel – or Palestinians in Israel – make up 21% of the population.

Also readLegislative elections in Israel: Gadi Eisenkot, the former army chief who wants to dethrone Netanyahu

The presence of a prominent Jewish figure as number two on an Arab list therefore potentially has a decisive impact. “This goes beyond a political calculation. The Ra’am, likely to win four to six seats, is not demanding ministerial positions for its leaders,” underlines Denis Charbit. “In the current situation, it is unlikely that an Arab politician will be appointed minister. With Yoav Segalovitz, Ra’am has its ideal candidate to be Minister of Internal Security after Itamar Ben-Gvir.”

The Jewish supremacist did not fail to describe this rapprochement as “a joint plot of the left aimed at opening the way to a future government with the Muslim Brotherhood” and to publish on

The leader of the Israeli far right is thus playing with what Denis Charbit describes as “an authentic fear (which) has taken root within the Jewish population in Israel.” For him, “Segalovitz’s candidacy seeks to overcome distrust. He declares in a way that he is not afraid, that he has met Arabs with whom he can form an alliance. To assert that internal security is a general interest that is neither Jewish nor Arab is disruptive. It is something unprecedented since 1948.”

These elections, which will be held on October 27 in Israel, will be the first national vote since the massacres committed by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023 and the implementation of an illiberal and contested judicial reform, initiated by the Netanyahu government in 2022.