In 2014, a change in Israeli election law encouraged Israel’s various Arab political parties to unite in a Join List, which went on to become a significant force in the Knesset. But, ahead of next month’s elections, the conservative Ra’am faction has left the Joint List. Other parties, meanwhile, see a chance to scoop up Arab voters. Last week Likud issued its first-ever Arabic campaign video. Haviv Rettig Gur comments:
The collapse of an Arab political consensus that saw the parties put aside internal differences in favor of unity, appears set to drive down turnout in Arab towns. . . . The lopping off of Ra’am has changed the conversation in the Arab political arena. In the past, the parties would jockey for higher placement on their amalgamated slate, which the average voter didn’t care about. “Now the fights are over agendas, issues,” [the pollster Yousef] Makladeh said.
Those issues are among the fundamental fissures of Arab politics: gay rights (Ra’am opposes, Ḥadash endorses); the approach to the Israel-Palestinian conflict; the place of religion in public life; and Ra’am’s desire to join ruling coalitions, even if it means dealing with right-wing parties, in order to bring funding to Arab towns.
That looming collapse has driven a massive effort among other parties to appeal to disenchanted Arab voters. [But] it’s too simple to dismiss the newfound commitment of Jewish politicians to the Arab community as mere politicking. Politicians from left-wing Meretz to right-wing Yamina like to think of themselves as inclusive and egalitarian, even if campaign strategy sometimes pushed them to behave otherwise.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-arab-consensus-splinters-wangling-for-communitys-vote-sparks-hard-questions/