Ra’am reportedly says it’s willing to join efforts to revive Joint List ahead of elections

The Islamist Ra’am party reportedly says that it is willing to join a technical joint electoral list ahead of the upcoming elections alongside Arab-majority political parties Hadash, Ta’al and Balad.

However, according to Haaretz, Ra’am has emphasized that it must be permitted to maintain its independence.

“A joint-technical list means that each party maintains its platform, freedom and dialogue with its voters without any constraint. Any clause that imposes binding conditions on each of the parties harms the technical nature of the list and turns it into something completely different,” Ra’am says, according to the newspaper.

The party says a technical list “would be the ideal solution that fulfills the aspirations of our voters and preserves the integrity of the parties.”

The statement came after the other three parties called on Ra’am yesterday to join them due to recognition of the “existential dangers” Arab parties are facing. The parties said they wanted to include Ra’am in an agreement forming a new Joint List “to strengthen Arab representation and overthrow the extremist right-wing government.”

Despite uniting sharply dissonant ideological views, the Joint List alliance has a track record of energizing Arab voters and bringing the community unprecedented political influence. At its peak in 2020, it won 15 seats out of 120 in the Knesset, making it the third largest party.

Yesterday, Channel 13 reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s allies are seeking to outlaw Ra’am as a terror group ahead of the elections. In a post on X, Abbas called the reported plan “anti-democratic” and said his party would answer at the ballot box.

The move would require legislation in the Knesset, as well as opinions from the relevant security agencies, headed by the Shin Bet, Channel 13 says. It is unclear if there would be time to complete those processes before the country goes to the polls by October 27 at the latest.