Segalovitz: Ra’am wants to be part of coalition, next PM will have to take Arab vote into account

Former MK Yoav Segalovitz, who mounted an unprecedented run as no. 2 in traditionalist Arab party Ra’am, says “the real result of the election” is 70-50 seats against the current government, referring to initial exit polls that are liable to shift.

“That’s the real Israeli statement,” he tells The Times of Israel.

“The prime minister-designate, and I don’t know who that will be,” will have to take that result into account, including the roughly 17 cumulative seats that exit polls awarded Arab parties, says Segalovitz.

“There’s no alternative,” he says. “You can’t say, ‘don’t come, don’t come, you can’t be a part.'”

“We want to be part of the coalition,” he says, even if leaders of the Zionist opposition “currently say out loud” that they’re unwilling to rely on Arab support.

The idea, promulgated by some of those leaders, that relying on Arab support is illegitimate after the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, is “one of the biggest bits of nonsense there are,” Segalovitz says, noting that Arab Israeli communities also suffered in the attacks.

“My intention is to break the lines between Arabs and Jews,” he says.

“There are problems between Arabs and Jews,” but “if we only see the difficulties and don’t see a future, then we won’t do anything,” he adds.