Labor-Gesher-Meretz leader okay with government propped up by Arab party

Labor leader Amir Peretz, who also heads the Labor-Gesher-Meretz left-wing alliance, says his party will not rule out a center-left government supported from outside by the majority-Arab Joint List.

“We don’t rule out anyone — not ultra-Orthodox and not Arabs,” Peretz says at a faction meeting. “Our party will be part of the next government even if it is supported by the Arab parties. We have no reason to rule out populations in Israel.”

But he adds that the key question will be the policies adopted by the new government, saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “created so many societal problems, so there is room for everyone [in the attempt] to rectify them.”