Arab-Israeli politician Ahmad Tibi has offered the support of his United List to Israel’s Jewish opposition parties to help form a new government and remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power, proposing cooperation that would break with previous political practices.
Tibi said his party was prepared to support a new administration without taking ministerial positions or becoming part of the cabinet. He said the United List was willing to reconsider its traditional approach to political cooperation in order to bring about a change of government.
“We want to do things that we have not done in the past to replace this criminal government,” Tibi said.
The offer follows the parliamentary election held at the end of October, in which Netanyahu and his coalition partners, some of whom are from the far right, lost their parliamentary majority. However, the opposition alliance led by Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s principal political rival, also failed to secure enough seats to form a government independently.
The results have placed Arab parties in a potentially decisive position in negotiations over the formation of a new coalition. Tibi’s United List won 11 parliamentary seats, while the Ra’am party, another Arab political party, secured eight. Together, the two parties hold 19 seats, giving their support considerable significance in the post-election parliamentary arithmetic.
Tibi said his principal objective in seeking a change of government was to improve conditions for Palestinian citizens of Israel. He acknowledged that a new coalition would not necessarily end the wars or create the conditions for the establishment of a Palestinian state. However, he argued that a different government could take action against violent crime in Arab communities.
Arab Israelis account for approximately 20 per cent of Israel’s population, making issues affecting their communities an important part of Tibi’s political agenda. His proposal to support a government led by Jewish opposition parties without formally joining it offers a possible route for cooperation while allowing the United List to remain outside the cabinet.
Whether the Jewish opposition will accept the offer remains uncertain. Some political allies of Eisenkot have expressed openness to working with Arab parties, while others have rejected the possibility. Opponents of such cooperation have accused representatives of the United List of questioning Israel’s right to exist or supporting its adversaries.
Tibi has rejected the arguments for excluding Arab parties from government arrangements, saying that such a position would contradict the principle of equal political participation for all citizens.
“Excluding Arab parties would be a sign that Israel is an ethnocracy, not an absolute democracy for all citizens,” he said.
The disagreements within the opposition over cooperation with Arab parties remain a significant obstacle as political leaders consider possible arrangements for forming the next government.
