Jerusalem. Ahmed Tibi, a senior Arab lawmaker, said on Wednesday that a coalition of Arab-led political parties is negotiating with a group opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the formation of an alternative government after the parliamentary elections in Israel.
Tibi said that the ‘Joint List’, an alliance consisting of the Tal Balad and Hadash parties representing the Arab community in Israel, is likely to support the opposition coalition in their efforts to remove Netanyahu from power.
In an interview with the Israeli government radio “Kan Reshet Beit”, Tibi, who is also the chairman of the Tal party, said that his alliance could support the opposition group formed to replace Netanyahu. However, he clarified that there is little chance of the Joint List formally participating in the government.
“We stopped Netanyahu from forming a government. Our voters want us to go further and influence the shape of the political system after the election,” Tibi said.
According to him, the Joint List is ready to discuss issues of parliamentary cooperation if it is ensured that there will be progress in matters such as crime control related to the Arab minority community, stopping house demolitions, infrastructure development and control of hate activities.
“We probably won’t be an integral part of this government,” he said. However, he said that other types of cooperation options are open.
Meanwhile, Yair Golan, the leader of the Democrats Party, affiliated to the opposition coalition, has asked his allies to abandon their position of refusing to cooperate with Arab parties.
On social network X, he said that the division created by Netanyahu between Jewish and Arab voters should not be accepted.
Youssef Jabarin, chairman of the Joint List, has also said that they are ready to help opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot to remove Netanyahu from power. “Anyone who wants to provide a real alternative to Netanyahu’s bloody government must talk to us. We are ready to open the way to remove him from power,” Jabarin said in a statement.
According to Israel’s Central Election Committee, with about 77 percent of votes counted, Netanyahu’s coalition was expected to win 54 seats and Eisenkot’s coalition 49 seats in the 120-member parliament. The joint list and Muslim Raam party were expected to win 17 seats jointly, 11 seats were seen to be part of the joint list. In this situation, it is seen that the Joint List can play a decisive role in the formation of the government. He can influence the equation of government formation by giving parliamentary support without formally participating in the coalition.
However, both Netanyahu and Eisencott have previously rejected the possibility of forming a government with Arab parties. This has made the efforts to gather a majority after the election more complicated. – Xinhua