Veteran Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi, No. 2 on the Joint List, said Saturday his party was ready to support anti-Netanyahu Zionist parties in setting up a government to replace the outgoing coalition, but stressed he did not want to be part of the government itself.
Speaking to Channel 12, Tibi urged leading opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot to “be like (the late Prime Minister Yitzhak) Rabin,” who relied on the votes of Arab MPs to pass the Oslo Accords with the PLO.
Meanwhile, party chairman Yousef Jabareen said in a separate interview that initial contacts had been established with most of the leaders of the anti-Netanyahu bloc. He also refused to label Hamas a terrorist organization – one of Eisenkot’s stated demands for potential coalition partners – and rejected allegations of Qatar meddling in the election to boost the Arab vote.
Tibi, whose Joint List of three Arab factions won 11 seats in Tuesday’s elections, told Channel 12: “We want to help everyone who wants to overthrow this horrible government… and replace it with another government. We want to be part of the correction, to be part of the hope.”
“We will not be part of the government. I do not want a ministerial post. I do not want to be part of the government,” he stressed. “But without the Arab parties, there will be no change,” he added, referring to the election results which gave anti-Netanyahu parties 67 seats in the 120-member Knesset, including 19 to the two Arab parties. Raam, the second largest Arab party, won eight seats.
The 67 seats collectively held by Netanyahu’s opponents would be enough to secure a parliamentary majority if Jewish-led opposition parties agreed to cooperate with Arab factions, but Yashar, B’Yachad and Yisrael Beytenu have ruled out sitting in a coalition with them.
Tibi said the unprecedented turnout and resulting representation of the Arab sector in the Knesset meant that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could not form a government. The Arab sector’s “heroic vote” was “an act of self-defense” against the Netanyahu coalition, he said.
He said the Joint List would recommend to President Isaac Herzog that a candidate from the anti-Netanyahu Zionist parties be given the mandate to form a coalition – presumably Eisenkot. He also said the party would support a vote to oust Likud Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and indicated he would support a vote to establish a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas invasion and massacre on October 7, 2023. These are two measures the anti-Netanyahu bloc plans to prioritize after the Knesset is sworn in on November 10.
Indicating his long-term support, Tibi also said his party would not support a Likud-initiated no-confidence motion against the government it hoped would be established, nor would it launch its own motion to dissolve the Knesset.
Tibi rejected the idea that the Joint List received illicit electoral financing from Qatar or any other foreign country. He also claimed that Shin Bet chief David Zini “manipulated” Central Election Commission Chairman Judge Noam Sohlberg into announcing an investigation into allegations of foreign interference after meeting with election candidate Netanyahu. “Does this seem acceptable to you?” » asked Tibi, predicting that the investigation would lead nowhere.
Channel 12 reported Thursday after the election that Netanyahu and his Likud party were alleging that Qatar secretly financed efforts to increase Arab voter turnout. Likud reportedly believed that Qatar was behind the money that was allegedly transferred to Arab groups in support of the vote. The Shin Bet opened a limited investigation into suspected foreign financing and interference.
The allegations were unsubstantiated. Shin Bet sources later told Channel 12 that nothing examined in the foreign interference investigation could affect the election results, while the Central Election Commission said the investigation was limited in scope and would not affect the results.
Jabareen says Joint List ready to help build majority
Also speaking to Channel 12 on Saturday, Jabareen expressed her party’s willingness to support opposition parties.
He said the unprecedented increase in Arab voter turnout – from 38% in the 2022 elections to nearly 80% – came because “people saw an opportunity to overthrow Netanyahu, (National Security Minister Itamar) Ben Gvir and (Finance Minister Bezalel) Smotrich and punish them” over years of grievances, including anti-Arab incitement and a spiral of deadly crimes in the Arab sector.
“The Arab public viewed the situation as a state of emergency, an almost existential election,” Jabareen said.
The Joint List was “really ready” to help build a parliamentary majority in the coming weeks, according to Jabareen, who said informal contacts had begun with opposition parties, including Eisenkot, Democratic leader Yair Golan and members of Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad party, but not with Avigdor Liberman. He described them as “first contacts” rather than formal talks.
Jabareen’s conditions for such a deal may be doomed to failure, since one of them includes a commitment to a diplomatic path to the establishment of a Palestinian state. Jewish-led opposition parties have expressed opposition to such an idea. The left-wing Democrats’ manifesto advocates a regional diplomatic process including the Palestinians, without mentioning statehood.
Jabareen’s conditions also include an organized, budgeted plan to reduce violent crime in Arab municipalities. Additionally, he demanded an end to house demolitions, a punitive tactic used against the residences of convicted terrorists and their families.
Jabareen dismissed reports that Qatar attempted to interfere in the elections as “manipulation” and “dangerous slander.”
“I am not aware of any interference from Qatar,” he said. “The only interference I know of is (US President Donald) Trump’s message supporting Netanyahu.”
Trump gave Netanyahu his “complete and total support” nine days before the election, saying any alternative Israeli leader would leave Washington to confront Iran without the same partnership.
While Jabareen said his party had repeatedly condemned the October 7, 2023 massacre led by Hamas, he repeatedly dodged questions about his refusal to label Hamas a terrorist organization. When repeatedly asked for a clear answer, he replied: “My dear, I am not in an interrogation room. »
He said the Joint List had been firm in its response to the invasion and the October 7 massacre: “We said we condemned the massacre in the communities on the Gaza border. »
Regarding a speech by Osama Saadi, a former member of the Knesset, in which he dedicated the electoral gains of Arab parties to residents of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Jabareen questioned Saadi’s choice of words, although he praised Saadi for providing legal defense for Palestinian families.
Regarding military service, Jabareen reiterated that Israeli Arab leaders oppose compulsory military or national service in its current form. The deeper problem, he insisted, is the absence of a real dialogue between the state and the leaders of the Arab community.
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