New Meretz chief deems Joint List a ‘legitimate partner’ for a ruling party
Zehava Galon says majority-Arab faction can be a post-election partner, though the party itself has historically eschewed joining a government coalition
Carrie Keller-Lynn is a former political and legal correspondent for The Times of Israel
New Meretz party chief Zehava Galon said Sunday that her party would be open to allying with the majority-Arab Joint List faction in a coalition following the November 1 elections.
“I don’t disqualify the Joint List. I think the delegitimization that we do to Arab parties is inexcusable,” Galon said at the outset of her left-wing party’s first faction meeting since her return to its helm following her primary victory last week.
“Arab elected officials are legitimate partners for recommendation” of who should form a government after elections, “and of course for ruling,” she added. After each election, each party head submits to the president their recommendation of who should be tasked with forming a government, with that person becoming prime minister.
The Joint List has never sat in an Israeli coalition and has been severely critical of its former constituent member, Ra’am, for joining the outgoing government last year. Nevertheless, right-wing campaigns have intensively criticized the possibility of establishing a centrist-led government leaning on Joint List support. Most other mainstream political parties, including those on the left, are more circumspect about the possibility of working with the Joint List.
Galon – who took a break from politics beginning in 2018 – also said that her party aspires to be part of a “democratic, Israeli” bloc headed by current Prime Minister Yair Lapid.
Meretz binds several left-wing and social justice causes under its umbrella, and has four Arab candidates within its top 10 Knesset slots – although only one sits in a realistic position to enter Knesset. Aligned with these positions, Galon has refrained from labeling Meretz as “Zionist,” a repeated point of contention between herself and lawmaker Yair Golan as they battled for Meretz’s top spot.
Lapid is one of the two current coalition ministers gunning to lead a second iteration of the so-called “change government.” Centrist leader Benny Gantz also has his eyes on the prime minister’s chair, and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu charges that neither is able to form a government without the Joint List’s support.
According to Israel’s notoriously inaccurate but politically influential polls, neither Lapid nor Gantz currently have the numbers to form a government without a major bloc-based shakeup.
“My position is connected to the scenarios. The Joint List is absolutely one of the options,” Galon said.
Committed to advancing Palestinian national aspirations and critical of Israel’s treatment of its Arab minorities, the Joint List has never sat with an Israeli coalition and is often viewed as a third, independent bloc when potential coalition makeups are examined. Still, its lawmakers have collaborated with coalition and opposition lawmakers on a range of case-by-case issues.
Israel’s fifth election since 2019, scheduled for November 1, is again centered on the question of returning the premiership to Netanyahu. Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, Netanyahu is also the country’s most popular individual politician, and its most divisive.
Galon, like several of Meretz’s current coalition partners, is committed to blocking Netanyahu’s return to power.
“We intend to the block the entrance of the Ben Gvirs, Smotriches, and Netanyahus to the government table,” Galon said, referring also to far-right politicians Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, Netanyahu’s political partners.
On Saturday, Galon denounced a new merger between Ben Gvir’s and Smotrich’s parties as an “alliance of thugs.”
Outgoing Meretz head Nitzan Horowitz was not present at Sunday’s faction meeting, although defeated primary challenger Golan did attend.
