Before the Knesset elections scheduled for October 27, Likud announced that it would apply to prevent the United List and Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas, from running.
The party of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the two Arab-majority groups of supporting terrorism, denigrating Israeli soldiers and refusing to define Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations. Likud’s statement contained no evidence supporting these allegations.
The move came as Likud stepped up its political criticism of Gadi Eisenkot, the former army chief of staff. The party described the Arab parties as Eisenkot’s “natural partners.”
Likud’s allegation concerning Eisenkot
Likud also claimed that Eisenkot would seek the support of United List and Ra’am, along with opposition leaders Yair Golan and Avigdor Lieberman, to form a government.
The United List includes the main components of the body that brings together Arab political parties in Israel. Ra’am is running in the elections as an independent party after leaving the alliance.
Arab parties in the coalition equation
Ra’am became the first Arab party to join an Israeli government coalition in 2021. Recent opinion polls have placed Eisenkot’s Yashar Party ahead of Likud.
Neither Netanyahu’s political bloc nor the opposition has demonstrated a clear majority capable of reaching the 61 seats needed to form a government. This could give Arab parties an important position in coalition calculations after the elections.