Joint Arab List says willing to provide safety net for any anti-Netanyahu coalition

The chair of the Arab-led Joint List declared on Saturday that the party is prepared to provide an electoral safety net to the opposition bloc in the Knesset in order to replace the government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Yousef Jabareen, who leads the Hadash faction of the Joint List, said in a video statement that his party would “use all the tools” at its disposal to replace the premier, adding that it would demand certain conditions in return, including a budgeted plan to fight crime in Arab communities and a pathway to Palestinian statehood.

The statement, made in Arabic and translated by Hebrew news outlets, was issued barely two weeks before the October 27 election. It indicates that the Joint List could abstain from a vote, or perhaps even vote in favor of a coalition, something it has rarely done, in order to give the anti-Netanyahu bloc a parliamentary majority. Polls have shown for months that both the prime minister’s supporters and opponents will fall short of winning an outright 61-seat majority in the Knesset without Arab support.

By supporting a coalition from the outside without actually joining it, the Joint List could pave the way for a minority government made up of Zionist anti-Netanyahu parties.

But Jabareen’s pledge could cause controversy. Most mainstream anti-Netanyahu parties have ruled out relying on Arab factions to form a coalition, and most oppose a Palestinian state. Netanyahu, in attack ads, has claimed that his opponents will include Arab parties in their government.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, continued to trade barbs with ex-general Ofer Winter, his purported partner, on Saturday night. On the other side of the political map, the left-wing Democrats warned that the party had identified a campaign of fake AI-generated videos showing former Hamas hostages supporting the party, though it was unclear who was responsible for the videos.

And Benny Gantz, chair of the Blue and White party, vowed to stay in the race despite polls consistently showing the party falling far short of the minimum number of votes needed to enter the Knesset.

Jabareen: ‘No limits’ to what we can do to replace Netanyahu

Jabareen said the Joint List would be prepared to enter into negotiations with the opposition in order to reach an agreement on forming a government to unseat Netanyahu.

“After the election, we’ll impose our conditions on any political constellation in Israel,” he said in a statement. “We have full freedom of action, with no limits, to replace the Netanyahu government, and we will use all the tools at our disposal.”

Jabareen said the Joint List would support the opposition via a safety net — meaning that it would facilitate the formation of a minority government by providing backing for it without joining the coalition.

He clarified, however, that his party would not be giving a potential coalition “a blank check” but would instead expect certain conditions to be met in exchange for its support.

Jabareen’s conditions for such a deal could be a nonstarter. They include an organized plan, with a budget, for reducing violent crime in Arab municipalities. He also demanded halting home demolitions, a punitive tactic used on the residences of convicted terrorists and their families. And he said the coalition would need to commit to a diplomatic avenue toward establishing a Palestinian state.

“These elections are not ordinary elections,” Jabareen said in his video, summarizing the main issues Arab voters are contending with as “fascism, racism, ongoing harm and unprecedented escalation.”

“These are fateful elections here, in our country, which we have no other country besides,” he said.

The vast majority of Israel’s political parties, on both sides of the aisle, oppose Palestinian statehood. The right-wing and center-right members of the opposition bloc have likewise ruled out welcoming Arab parties to their coalition, another obstacle to Jabareen’s plan.

Most discussions about including Arab-led parties in an opposition government have centered on Ra’am, the historically Islamist party that joined a government in 2021-2022 to briefly unseat Netanyahu. But that prospect has also proven controversial.

Netanyahu has consistently attacked his top rival, Yashar’s Gadi Eisenkot, by claiming that he will only be able to form a government by relying on Arab parties.

The latest poll published by Zman Yisrael — the Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site — on Thursday showed that the bloc of parties opposing Netanyahu is ahead of the pro-Netanyahu bloc, but is still far from the minimum 61 seats needed to form a government.

Were the elections held today, the poll found that the four Jewish-led parties opposed to Netanyahu would win 55 seats, six short of a majority, while the parties supporting Netanyahu would win 51.

The Joint List and Ra’am would win 14 seats in total, with the Joint List taking nine.

If Jabareen’s offer is accepted and his conditions met, the external support of the Joint List would be enough for the anti-Netanyahu bloc to form a minority government.

Winter on Netanyahu: ‘I don’t work for anyone’

Winter, chair of the right-wing People of Israel party, took another shot at Netanyahu in an interview on Channel 12.

Winter has said he will back Netanyahu for another term, but has also criticized the premier’s record and has demanded legislation instituting universal conscription, something Netanyahu’s Haredi partners staunchly oppose.

Winter said in an interview on Channel 12 that he will not join an Eisenkot-led government, saying it would be a “danger” to the State of Israel.

But he said if Netanyahu partners with the ultra-Orthodox over him, he’ll tell the prime minister to “take a hike.”

“I mean that seriously. I don’t work for anyone,” he said. “We have come to do what we need to do. If not, we won’t participate.”

In response, Netanyahu likened Winter to “a second Naftali Bennett,” the ex-premier and former ally of Netanyahu who joined with the opposition to unseat the premier.

“Bennett also promised he would go with the right, and went with the Muslim Brotherhood,” Netanyahu said in a video, referring to Ra’am. “Winter hasn’t stopped attacking me… You know he’ll take your votes to the left.”

Netanyahu has repeatedly attacked Winter, and called him “fake right” in remarks at a conference on Thursday, according to Channel 13.

Democrats: We aren’t behind fake AI videos from ex-hostages

Later on Saturday night, the Democrats said in a statement that the party had identified an “influence campaign” in which AI-generated videos show Israelis who were held hostage by Hamas in Gaza expressing support for the party.

The party said the videos are not connected to its campaign, and that the effort is “dishonest and despicable,” and “meant to hurt the hostages, the memory of their loved ones and the Democrats party.”

The statement did not say who is suspected of producing the videos, nor how they are meant to damage the party.

The party also reiterated its support for the fight to release the hostages, who were taken in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack. The final living hostages were released a year ago.

“As is known, the Democrats party supported the struggle of the hostage families for their return,” the statement said. “We are shocked at the repeated injury to these families.”

The party said it had notified the social media giant Meta, the National Cyber Directorate and the Central Elections Committee, and called for an investigation.

Gantz: I’m not dropping out of race

Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz insisted that he would continue running in the election, despite polls consistently showing that his party has little chance of entering the Knesset.

In a video statement released on Saturday, Gantz said he would continue running “until the end,” and rejected charges that voters would be wasting their ballots.

He repeated his campaign message that his party would push for a unity government between the pro- and anti-Netanyahu blocs.

“We are on the road to disaster. We must stop and save the country,” he said. “I do not belong to any bloc; anyone who claims that I waste votes is lying and afraid. ”

He claimed that there are six Knesset seats’ worth of voters who would be willing to vote for his party, despite polls showing him with much lower numbers.

His statement seems to contradict his statement to The Times of Israel last month that he would drop out in the campaign’s final week if it becomes clear he won’t win reelection to the Knesset.

“Either I’ll go across the threshold or I won’t run in the last week or so,” he told The Times of Israel’s Lazar Focus podcast in September. “So no votes will be wasted.”