From the Liveblog of
Sunday, August 9, 2026
Hadash, Balad parties back proposal for joint election slate rejected by Ta’al
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The Arab-majority parties Hadash and Balad release statements supportive of a proposed three-way joint list with the Ta’al party, despite the latter party having rejected the makeup of the roster.
The proposal was made by an inter-party “reconciliation committee” but was dismissed by MK Ahmad Tibi’s Ta’al following a meeting this afternoon.
Speaking with The Times of Israel, a spokesman for Hadash says that negotiations will continue because “there is no other option,” adding that two out of 10 of the committee’s members quit following Ta’al’s rejection of the proposal.
In a statement, Hadash, a joint Jewish-Arab leftist faction incorporating Israel’s old Communist Party, says that it welcomes the proposal and views it “as an expression of the public will, and we must all respect it.”
“Throughout the entire process, we made every effort to reach the broadest possible consensus out of a commitment to respect the public’s will. Now, the responsibility lies with all of us to move forward without delay and prepare for the joint campaign, to raise voter turnout among the Arab public, and to ensure political representation that is as strong and broad as possible,” the party says, calling an Arab joint list “the force that will prevent Netanyahu–Ben Gvir–Smotrich from continuing for another term.”
Similarly, the nationalist Balad party releases a statement calling on all three parties’ leaders and their teams “to meet immediately tomorrow to officially announce the tripartite list, form political, media, organizational, and field task forces, and approve the political program and strategic plan for the campaign, based on the deliberations and joint efforts that have taken place over the past year.”
According to a Hadash spokesman, the committee’s proposed joint list is as follows:
1. Yousef Jabareen – Hadash
2. Ahmad Tibi – Ta’al
3. Sami Abu Shehadeh – Balad
4. Jafar Farah – Hadash
5. Bakhar Awawdeh – Balad
6. Ofer Cassif – Hadash
7. Youssef Atauna – Hadash
8. Maha Karkabi – Balad
9. Ta’al (Unspecified)
10. Nihaya Washahi – Hadash
11. Hassan Nassasra – Balad
12. Ta’al (Unspecified)
13. Ayas Natour – Hadash
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