Netanyahu: The Arab parties seek to destroy the Jewish state. They must not be part of a government

The full text of Interim Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address in the Knesset’s Chagall State Hall, after the 120 incoming MKs were sworn in at the opening of the 26th Knesset, November 10, 2026:

The 26th Knesset is opening in the shadow of great threats to the State of Israel. Despite the harsh blows we landed on Iran, Iran is not giving up on its plan to destroy Israel. After we staved off the immediate existential threat of the Iranian nuclear program, Iran is working to renew this program. The only way to remove this existential threat permanently is by toppling the regime of the ayatollahs.

Thanks to our soldiers’ courage, thanks to our people’s resilience, thanks to the brave decisions that our government took, we made immense achievements. We eliminated Deif, Haniyeh, Sinwar, Nasrallah, effectively the Assad regime of terror, Khamenei, all the command groups, the scientists, very harsh blows to the infrastructure of the Revolutionary Guards, the Iranian economy, their military, navy, air force. Very harsh blows to Iran and the Axis of Evil. We changed the face of the Middle East.

But, and there is a but, in the near future we will already face international pressure to accept a nuclear Iran and the continued existence of the reign of terror that seeks our destruction. And we will also come under pressure — it’s already starting — to withdraw from our immense achievements, including our great achievements in the security zones in Syria, Lebanon, of course in Gaza, and also in Judea and Samaria, where they will try to impose upon us the establishment of a Palestinian state. An Iranian-sponsored Palestinian state — (Netanyahu apparently mispeaks in the next phrase:) even worse than we called for or established — that is intended, obviously, for the goal of destroying Israel.

I am saying this because we are gathered in this House, facing these threats. We must do one thing: set aside every other consideration and form a national unity government. Only such a government will be able to meet challenges of this magnitude. It is impossible to handle them with a narrow government.

I say this because here in this Knesset they are seriously talking about forming a narrow government like this, a government that includes within it terror supporters, haters of Israel, or that would be dependent on them.

I am not talking about Arabs. Arabs vote Likud, vote for all the parties. I am talking about people whose ideology is hatred of Israel and the destruction of the Jewish state. People who say Hamas is just a charitable organization. Excuse me: Not a terrorist organization at all. A charitable organization. And it, quote, didn’t slaughter babies, and didn’t rape women on October 7. Those are not my words. It is a quote from those Knesset members who are supposed to be members of the narrow government. People who demand that Israel be flooded with millions of descendants of the Palestinian refugees. Clearly, this would bring an end to the Jewish state. Incidentally, they intend to start with mass family reunifications. That happened after Oslo with 100,000. Now they are talking about hundreds of thousands — citizenship for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

So those who are thinking of establishing a government, a government like this, with people like those, I ask you: What do you think will be the real goal of these parties? Merely to improve the social welfare of Israel’s Arab public? We have no problem with that.

But that’s not their real goal. Those who want to form a government with them, I ask you, don’t you understand what they really want to achieve? What their national ambition is? I will quote Knesset member Walid Taha: ‘The Palestinians, unlike the Jews, are the owners of this land. With the help of Allah, this occupation will be set aside. Our grandfathers were here. This is our land.’

That reminds me of what [former] MK Zahalka said, late at night or in a Knesset debate. He said, ‘We were here before you. And we will be here after you.’ And I replied to him: ‘The first part is untrue. And the second part will not come to pass.’

It needs to be clear: They have not changed their positions. Take Mansour Abbas, in Arabic, obviously: ‘The Jews have no rights on the Temple Mount. The Jews have no rights at the Western Wall. The Jews have no rights in Jerusalem. The Jews are invaders in this land.’

This is Walid al-Huashla MK, a participant in this government that they are talking of forming: ‘The Jews are settlers in Tel Aviv.’ In Tel Aviv. Not in Kedumim. Not in Nokdim. In Tel Aviv.

To those who are thinking of establishing a government with these people, I say: Are you prepared to be dependent on those whose purpose is the destruction of the Jewish state? You would place the fate of our country into their hands? You would prefer them over Zionist parties that represent a vast Zionist public — a public of warriors, of heroes, of IDF wounded, of bereaved families; a public that sacrifices so much, that is so loyal, powerfully, that gives so much of itself?

People of Israel, I want to stress that all the quotes I cited here are from Knesset members from Ra’am. But it is not only Ra’am that you are considering bringing into government. You’re also talking about the Joint List.

There are those in this House who for some reason think, when it comes to the existence of the Jewish state and Zionism, that there is a great difference between the supposedly “moderate” Ra’am and the “extremist” Joint List. No and no.

As regards their attitude to the Jewish state, there is no difference… The two both agree that the Jewish state must be destroyed. They are only at odds on the question of which kind of Palestinian state will arise here on the ruins of the Jewish state — whether an Islamic state in the Muslim Brotherhood mold, like Hamas in Gaza, or a nationalist Palestinian state in the Fatah mold. That is the whole difference.

But on one thing they agree: Israel, as a Jewish state, has no right to exist.

Here again is Mansour Abbas, a few months ago: ‘We were compelled to accept the definition “Jewish state” so that we would not be banned.’ As in, banned from entering this House. Just like, now, he’ll be ‘compelled’ to call Hamas a terrorist organization, as lip service for the purpose of negotiations, as lip service in order to enter the government.

After October 7, after they [Hamas] raped, burned, killed, murdered, kidnapped… then, no, there was no place to call them a terrorist organization. But now, now, for the sake of a concept called taqiyya, there is a need to do this. What is this taqiyya? You surely know – it’s a commandment that is given for believers, in order to deal with infidels when the infidels are too powerful. You can’t destroy them, so you lie. Afterwards, you go in; it’s a Trojan horse. Like what they did in Hudaybiya, like what they did in other cases. Like Arafat said after Oslo, in Arabic, of course. In Arabic, not in English, he said, ‘Oslo is taqiyya. It gives us the means.’

And here we are speeding along that path: An offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood – it’s amazing, in the entire Western world, they are outlawing the Muslim Brotherhood, even in Turkey – sorry, not in Turkey – they are outlawing it, while here they are talking about — and also in America — here they are talking about bringing them in as members, or as members that the government relies on, of the government of Israel.

I want to expand on that point. It’s important for me to talk specifically about someone they are describing as moderate. So here, Mansour Abbas in 2015 says overtly what his goal is, in Arabic of course; in Hebrew, sweet-talking, just wants to take care of Arab Israelis. I think that I as prime minister did more than almost any other government, tens of billions of shekels.

This is what he says: ‘The Zionist movement will be forced to retreat to a two-state solution. But I say that we must not be satisfied with that. We must continue pushing the idea of a one-state solution.’

And what regime does he say in that speech will arise in the one state? A ‘democratic caliphate. Palestine from the sea to the river, on the ruins of Israel.’

Then he makes clear, ‘We don’t see a contradiction’ – this is my addition for anyone who doesn’t grasp the meaning, so I’m telling you that this part, the democratic caliphate, is his – ‘We don’t see a contradiction,’ he says, ‘between a caliphate and the conversation on the Palestinian national project. Quite the opposite – we see that one strengthens the other.’

A democratic caliphate. That’s what he’s working for. That’s what he’s striving for. A caliphate not alongside Israel, a caliphate instead of Israel.

The new MK Talik Gvili, I don’t know if she’s here… Hello Talik. I want to say mazal tov to you on your first day as a Knesset member. And Talik, the mother of the hero of Israel Rani Gvili of blessed memory, Talik asked, ‘How can it be that they can’t sit with me, and they’ll sit with those who support my son’s murderers?’

Are you really considering boycotting a major Zionist public, and for whom? Terror supporters who will say a couple of nice words? Taqiyya? Terror supporters and Israel haters?

With them, can we complete the mission in Iran, in Lebanon, in Gaza, in Syria?Not to mention Judea and Samaria? All of that is racing toward us. Racing toward us.

It’s not spin. It’s not PR companies. It’s not something that someone wrote for me. It’s something that I know, and it’s something that… at least some of you know. It’s racing toward us.

Everyone sitting here has a responsibility to ensure the future and existence and security of the country. So I ask you again – who are you going to create a government with? With people who visit our hospitals — not to visit our hero soldiers, but instead the despicable Nukhba terrorists. With people who decided to dedicate their recent achievements at the ballot box to the Hamas murderers?

I have to say something about this: We must, simply must, fully investigate the serious suspicions of the involvement of foreign actors with massive funds, who are suspected of influencing the election results. All the restrictions that the attorney general placed on [investigating] these serious suspicions must be lifted.

Naftali Bennett interjects, apparently saying: What about a State Commission of Inquiry? Why don’t you declare Qatar an enemy state? What about your Qatari advisers?

All the restrictions that the attorney general placed on these serious suspicions must be lifted. She imposed them here. I didn’t see that she imposed them in other cases, because there they allowed everything, they permitted everything, including criminal steps against the law. There is simply the trampling of the law.

But the important point I am saying here today is this: a government that depends in any way on Ra’am or the Joint List must not be formed.

Bennett interjects again, asking about “your advisers who got a salary from Qatar during the war.” Several MKs have walked out by this stage of the speech, and heckling and shouted objections reach a peak at this point.

And I say to our Haredi brothers: a narrow government must not rise either. Because I know what is at stake — not only the enormous security challenge, but also the great internal challenge of preserving the Jewish identity of the State of Israel.

You represent a large public that fears for the state’s Jewish identity, a public that loves Israel and that settles in the heart of the Land of Israel. We, the ‘faith bloc,’ have guarded and will continue to guard Israel’s sanctities — and you know perfectly well who your partners would be in a narrow government, and what their attitude to Israel’s sanctities would be.

Our shared task is to complete the regularization of the status of Torah students, and to pass a conscription law, by broad consensus, together with your spiritual leadership.

I don’t need to tell you — you know perfectly well — they will promise you mountains and hills. But a minute after a government headed by the left is formed, God forbid, all those promises will evaporate. They will have a safety net from the Arab parties. They’ll appoint whoever they want to appoint. They will do as they please.

And therefore, facing the great challenge from outside and at home, facing that great challenge, the solution we need is a national unity government — a government that includes all the parties in our bloc, and all who want to preserve a Jewish state in the Land of Israel.

I called for this when the war erupted. I called for this in the course of the elections. I called for this after the elections. This call is not mere empty words. I recognize the gravity of the hour, the responsibility, the leadership that is required.

I stand here, and in my heart are generations of Jews who dreamed, who prayed, who shed rivers of blood and seas of tears to return to our land and establish a Jewish state. A Jewish state, as my brother Yoni of blessed memory said, that will not be a passing episode but will stand for eternity.

And for that purpose, we must unify and close ranks in a national unity government. That is the order of the day. Only with [that kind of government], can we ensure our security. Only with it, can we widen the circle of peace with our neighbors. And only with it, with God’s help, can we bring peace within.