SAKHNIN, Israel (AP) — A Jewish former police officer and self-described Zionist might seem an unlikely candidate to represent an Islamist party in Israel’s parliament.
But Yoav Segalovitz will soon sit in the Knesset as a member of Ra’am, an Arab-led party that won eight seats in Tuesday’s elections. election.
His decision to leave a Jewish-led centrist party and join an Arab-led conservative party has sparked curiosity and condemnation in Israel, where the key question after inconclusive elections is whether Arab-led parties will be adopted by other adversaries of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help him oust him from power.
Segalovitz says the goal of his partnership with Raam leader Mansour Abbas was to show that Jews and Arabs can build political coalitions across racial and religious divides.
“He’s Arab. I’m Jewish. I’m secular. He’s religious,” he said of Abbas. “But we are all citizens of Israel. We all participate in this society. If we want to progress here, we have to work together in partnership,” he said in an interview before the elections.
Segalovitz was speaking of an alliance formed to help a small party gain greater acceptance, but his words also make sense as part of a broader debate that could determine the ultimate impact of the election.
Arab parties won an unprecedented 19 seats in the 120-member Israeli Knesset and could play a decisive role in forming a majority in the next government – if the country’s Jewish-led opposition is willing to join them.
A model of Jewish-Arab cooperation
In the banquet hall Tuesday evening where Raam celebrated gaining three additional Knesset seats, Segalovitz was the only politician not to address the crowd of his supporters in Arabic. Few people seemed to care. Applause echoed off the walls as he declared: “Kulanou Yisraelim!” — Hebrew for “We are all Israelis!” »
Not everyone agrees.
Right-wing critics said Segalovitz’s decision betrayed Israel and paved the way for Islamic law in the country. Some within the Joint List, the most left-wing Arab party, dismissed it as a promotional exercise aimed at appeasing dominant parties rather than solving problems facing Arab communities.
But he and Abbas said their union offered a different vision of Israel’s future while strengthening Raam’s case for inclusion in a governing coalition.
This did little to stop Netanyahu and his allies, who attacked Raam before, during and after the election.
Netanyahu’s party was among those who filed a petition to disqualify Raam from his candidacy. Campaigning on the slogan “Right or Palestine,” which rhymes in Hebrew, Netanyahu has repeatedly warned that his main rival, former military leader Gadi Eisenkot, would join forces with Abbas to secure a majority.
Netanyahu’s party – which won more votes than any other even as its grip on power weakened – also spread unsubstantiated allegations that the election was “stolen” by Arab-led parties, which those parties have denied.
“Displays of incitement, racism and exclusion are among the greatest threats to the resilience and strength of the State of Israel,” Segalovitz said Thursday on X.
An uphill battle for inclusion
With Netanyahu’s bloc unable to muster a majority, the partnership between Segalovitz and Abbas has exposed a stark asymmetry in Israeli politics. An Arab-led party welcomed a Jewish lawmaker into its ranks, but Jewish-led parties have so far been reluctant to form a coalition with Arab-led parties to remove Netanyahu.
Only once Did an Arab party join a government coalition, in 2021, and this government only lasted about 18 months.
Publicly, rather than courting them, Eisenkot set conditions for the Arab-led parties, including that they profess that Israel is a Jewish, democratic state and declare that Hamas is a terrorist organization “to be demolished.”
As leader of Ra’am, Abbas recognized Israel as a Jewish state and repeatedly condemned Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.
At a poolside campaign event in the predominantly Jewish city of Caesarea the week before the election, he sidestepped the question of calling Hamas a terrorist organization. He has previously described the issue as a trap, a loyalty test set by extremists.
A shared challenge for the future
Palestinians who managed to stay in Israel after the 1948 war surrounding its creationand their descendants, represent more than 20% of the population. They have Israeli citizenship and the right to vote. The majority are Muslim and many feel deep solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
A few Palestinian citizens have reached the highest levels of the business world and policy in Israel. Yet many feel abandoned by the authorities, their communities marked by underinvestment and poverty. Their sense of exclusion and insecurity has increased during Netanyahu’s current term, as he and his far-right ministers have portrayed them as a threat.
For Segalovitz, they are part of Israel’s pluralistic society, where people work side by side even if they don’t share the same background.
The 67-year-old former police investigator makes no secret of his disagreements with Abbas on issues such as compulsory military service or LGBTQ rights. But he added that showing that an Arab-led party can accommodate a Jewish politician from the political center is more important than any question.
This message resonated with Palestinian citizens who supported Ra’am, and it may have influenced some Jews as well.
Irit Schenker, a restaurant consultant in Caesarea, said hearing Abbas and Segalovitz speaking together convinced her to vote for Ra’am. A longtime supporter of Israeli left-wing parties, she said Jewish citizens must agree to share their country with Palestinian citizens. Otherwise, everyone would bear the costs of perpetual divisions.
“We cannot continue to ignore our problems. It will be a disaster,” Schenker said.
Segalovitz’s police experience is well known and respected among Ra’am supporters.
Mazen Ghnaim, mayor of the northern Israeli town of Sakhnin, said Segalovitz is considered effective, particularly in communities suffering from a surge in homicides and gang-related violence.
“He has the experience, and we are also showing that we can stand with the Jews and be part of the next government,” said Ghnaim, a Raam supporter.
Raam now wants to join the government
Segalovitz acknowledged that his background was part of his appeal, but said his broader goal was to break down barriers that harm Israeli society.
“We cannot ignore 21% of the population. Arabs in Israel participate in everything. Just in politics there are walls,” he said. “We want to be part of the government and be responsible for what happens here in Israeli society. »
On election night, as the results became clear, Abbas told a crowd of cheering supporters that a majority of Israelis had voted against Netanyahu and his right-wing allies and had proven that peace, dignity and security could be on the horizon.
“Hundreds of thousands of Arab and Jewish citizens went against the grain and proved that Arabs and Jews here can be partners and cooperate with each other,” Abbas said.
Abbas and Segalovitz will be sworn in with six other Raam MPs on November 10. It may be weeks, or even months, before we know whether they are still part of the opposition in the Knesset – or, in another unlikely rapprochement, whether they enter the majority.
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This version corrects the number of seats won by Arab parties to 19.
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