How Arab parties could decide Israel's election and Netanyahu's fate | Global News Podcast

This is the Global News podcast from the. BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton. Today, how could Arab Israelis reshape Israel's. politics? With Prime Minister Benjamin. Netanyahu and his main rival, Gadi. Eisenkot, in a deadlock after the. general election, Arab-led parties have. a chance to play kingmaker. We'll speak. to our diplomatic correspondent in. Jerusalem. >> If the opposition block were to join in. any capacity in any way with the Arab. block, then potentially they would have.

majority. >> And we'll ask BBC Arabic about these. potentially pivotal parties and why Arab. Israelis turned out in such massive. numbers for this election. >> [music]. >> As we record this, nearly all votes have. been counted in the Israeli general. election, and there's no clear winner. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's. coalition is ahead, but it's fallen. short of the 61 seats needed to control. Parliament, and that's left the door.

open to Netanyahu's main rival, Gadi. Eisenkot. Analysts say he could take. power by partnering with Arab-led. parties, which looks set to win an. unprecedented number of seats thanks to. a massive turnout by Arab Israeli. voters. On Wednesday night, supporters. of the Jewish opposition demonstrated in. Tel Aviv calling for the formation of a. joint Arab-Jewish government. >> Today, I see that my politicians view a. partnership with the Arabs as some kind.

of trap, some kind of bitter pill they. have to swallow. But in my view, it's. the opposite. It's the key to breaking. out of this trap. There's no chance of. change without a joint government, without taking into account that Arabs. make up 20% of Israel's population. They. need to be represented in the. government. This is the government I. want to live under, a government that. represents citizens who have been. marginalized here for so long. >> Forming an Arab and Jewish coalition. could be a challenge. Only one of the. Jewish parties have said they would work.

with the Arab parties, and Arab leaders. have their own reservations. Dr. Maha. Saba is a member of Balad, one of the. main Arab parties, and a candidate in. the election. She said they would. negotiate only with Gadi Eisenkot's. block, and there would be conditions to. joining his alliance. >> We are thinking about considering. political cooperation, but cooperation. cannot be unconditional, and it cannot. come at the expense of our principles. So, if we want to support another.

government, we have conditions, and we. have commitments to our voters that we. want to advance equality, addressing. discrimination, and especially that we want to end the. crime and violence among our. communities. We cannot be part of any. coalition that is still deal with the. occupation. and with racist policies for Arab and. Palestinians anywhere.

>> For more on the possibility of Arab. parties joining a coalition government, I spoke to our diplomatic correspondent. James Landale in Jerusalem. >> The bar is high, but it's not. impossible. Uh the pure pure arithmetic shows, as of. now, that if the opposition block were. to join in any capacity, in any way with. the Arab block, then potentially they. would have a majority over Benjamin. Netanyahu's governing coalition. But, uh there's a long way between that.

and reality, because although the. opposition parties have indicated that. they would be willing to talk, uh there. are huge obstacles. A lot of the. opposition Jewish parties have said. throughout the campaign that they would. not form any kind of coalition with the. uh Arab parties. The Arab parties. themselves may come to the table with a. very long shopping list of demands that. they're willing to uh to to need. satisfied before they're willing to. throw in their lot with uh Jewish.

Zionist parties. There is the legacy of October 7th just. hanging over the whole of Israeli. politics at the moment. And whether or. not Zionist parties of whatever color. are really ready to sit down in. parliament with Arab parties, you know, it's a big question that. Is Is that. cooperation still taboo in Israeli. politics? Uh, there are precedents for. this. Um, back in I think 2001 there was a. government that uh, briefly stood with.

the support of one Arab block, but it. didn't last very long. I think that. would be one of the questions that the. Arab parties would ask. Is Is it worth. throwing in their lot with the. opposition parties. uh, if it only result, for example, if. it doesn't actually mean permanently. that Benjamin Netanyahu leaves Israeli. politics. So, I think, you know, there. are an awful lot of questions before we. get to that space. But the arithmetic suggests that is. something that might be explored in the.

coming weeks as the horse trading. begins. >> So, as you've heard, Arab-led parties. could be the deciding factor in forming. the next Israeli government. I asked. Issam Ekhtermawi of BBC Arabic, who. makes up these parties and what they. stand for. He began by telling me what. it means to be an Arab Israeli. >> These people are Palestinians. They're. the people who stayed in their towns and. villages. and following the 1948 war, Israel was.

created with the endorsement of the. United Nations and at the time it was. obligated to give these people. citizenship. So, they become full. citizens by law. and and Israel called them or pointed. out to them as Arab Israelis. in order to differentiate them from. Jewish Israelis. So, the name sort of. stuck there. But if if you talk to these people, most. of them don't like to be called Arab. Israelis. They prefer to be called.

Palestinians. living within the green line. >> Okay. So, when we focus on the election. that just happened, why was the turnout. so high among this group for this. particular vote? >> Well, this is a very interesting. question. It's a very important one. There are many reasons for that. Uh. I've just got back from there uh and. I've spoken to people. There are people who are now in their. 60s. uh who never voted in Israeli elections.

They had the right to vote, but they. always boycotted the elections because. they thought it would be legitimizing. the discrimination against the Arab. population of Israel. So, they never. voted. This time they thought or they. felt that they have to because over the. last 3-4 years, you know, with what's. going on in Gaza, there's been a lot of. restrictions and crackdown on on Arab. institutions, uh crime crime rate has. gone up, and uh. people accuse Israeli police and Israeli.

politicians of turning a blind eye. You know, they're not doing enough to. curb uh the. crime. So, they they think that there's. so much at stake, and it's time for them. to go and uh you know, prove a point. Uh they they you know, they're 20 21% of the population. So, you're talking about a sizable minority. And also, there've been a a number of of. issues like house demolition in the Arab. sector,

either uh in the Galilee or in the in. the south in the Negev. So, many many. people feel threatened, and they feel. that there's so much to lose if they. carry on boycotting. >> Okay. So, you've taken us through the. issues, but what about the parties that. are hoping to tackle these these issues? Who are these Arab-led parties, and what. what platforms did they run on? >> There are four parties. Three of them. are in something called the Joint List, and one is on a separate list called the. United Arab List, uh called Mansour.

Abbas. Mansour Abbas not this. government, the previous government, the. uh Lapid-Bennett. government. He supported the government. from outside. He provided a safety net. Uh, and and in return, he managed to get. some like, uh, some extra money for various things and. bits and bobs. Uh, so he decided that he, uh, that the. Arab sector would be. best served by being in the government.

somehow, even if if he wasn't given a. portfolio in the in the cabinet. But he. thought by supporting the government, he. could get something out of them for the. for the Arab, uh, population. The other. three parties had reservations about. that. They thought, "No, because if you. do that, if you go and support a. government, it means that you're. endorsing or legitimizing the. discrimination against the the. population." Therefore, they stayed they. stayed, uh, outside. Now, if you look at.

the Likud, the Netanyahu-led block, you've got Netanyahu, you've got. Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, far right. You've got the two religious. parties. I think they they are unanimous. that they don't want, uh, an Arab party. in the coalition. And they said it's categorically they. refuse to have that. Now, on the other. side, the opposition in in Israel. The. opposition is not really united. I mean, it's made up of four different parties. And they're still sort of trying to work.

out something. What unites them that. they all want to get rid of Netanyahu. That's the main. reason that they are together. So they. have very different views regarding the. Arabs. For instance, one, uh, one party, Yair Golan, the Democrats, he said that. he they should actually, uh, have an. Arab party in the coalition. The other. three parties, uh, together, which is. Bennett and Lapid, uh, Eisenkot, and, uh, uh, Lieberman, they're saying, "No, we.

shouldn't have an an, uh, Arab or rely. on Arab, uh, party." So now they squeeze. themselves into a corner. They have to. find a way. Uh the Arab parties, both. parties now saying they are prepared to. give a safety net. to a future opposition government. because they have an interest in getting. rid of Netanyahu and his right-wing. block. Uh. but the details are yet to be worked. out, so nothing is finalized yet. But. they at least they're willing to work.

with the opposition in order to oust. Netanyahu. >> And that's all for now. To hear more. about the topics we covered today, you. can find the audio version of the Global. News podcast wherever you get your. podcasts. If you'd like to get in touch, our contact details are below. I'm Celia. Hatton. Until next time. Goodbye. >> [music].