Inside the Arab parties whose growing clout is meeting a wall of resistance from potential partners

Arab voter turnout in Israel's October 27 elections hit a record 77%, giving Arab parties 19 Knesset seats, their highest ever. The surge has made them potential kingmakers, but Jewish-led parties largely refuse to include them in a coalition, exposing a deep political divide over the legitimacy of Arab political power.

Arab voter turnout in Israel's October 27 elections reached a record 77%, up from 53.2% in 2022, according to the Israel Democracy Institute. The Joint List won 11 seats and Ra'am won 8, totaling 19 seats in the 120-member Knesset, surpassing the previous record of 15 held by Arab parties in March 2020. The surge was driven by deepening alienation during Netanyahu's last term, including crime in Arab communities, settler attacks, home demolitions, and the Gaza war. The strong showing triggered backlash from Netanyahu and his allies, who claimed the election was 'stolen' by Arab parties, though no evidence has been published. With neither bloc securing a majority, the Arab parties are potential kingmakers, but most Jewish-led parties refuse to include them in a coalition. The Joint List, an alliance of Hadash, Ta'al, and Balad, opposes Zionism and has ruled out joining a Zionist-led coalition but offered a parliamentary safety net. Ra'am previously joined the Bennett-Lapid government in 2021. The article notes that Joint List chairman Yousef Jabareen has declined to label Hamas a terrorist organization, a position at odds with Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot.