A veteran Arab lawmaker in Israel says his bloc is willing to break with decades of precedent and join forces with Jewish-led parties in a shared bid to end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘s long rule.
“We want to do things that we did not do in the past in order to remove this criminal government,” Ahmad Tibi, a senior member of the Arab Joint List, told The Associated Press.
But any such partnership could be politically fraught for both sides. For the Joint List, it would mean backing a government unlikely to end Israel’s wars or curb settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. For Netanyahu’s opponents, it would mean aligning with parties that not only criticize Israeli policies, but reject its identity as a Jewish state.
I think the goal of the Arab parties here is to extend an unwanted olive branch, to support the narrative that Arabs want peace, Zionists don’t. Which is a true narrative. The opposition won’t unite with the Arabs, but in doing so, they’ll discredit themselves and seem to be just as bad as Netanyahu. That will pave the way for more left sentiment over the coming years. More Jews will turn against the Zionist government and demand a peace that treats Arab Palestinians as equals.
Israel is not a country. Israel is a right-wing political movement that has invaded Palestine and claimed dominion over all Palestinian people, both Jewish and Muslim.
Eisenkot’s coalition has already sworn not to partner with the Arab parties, so that seems unlikely. They also don’t want to partner with Netanyahu’s coalition, but that seems more likely. Unfortunately, the most likely outcome is a new Zionist coalition, just not under Netanyahu.
As if any Zionist government wouldn’t be criminal.
Americans and occupied Palestinians are still both voting for genocide.
