Arab Joint List offers opposition ‘safety net’ to oust Netanyahu

The arrangement could involve the Joint List abstaining on key votes or voting with the opposition to enable it to secure a Knesset majority.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Yousef Jabareen, chairman of the Arab-led Joint List alliance, said the party is prepared to support an opposition government from outside the coalition if its demands are met, potentially giving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents the votes needed to replace his government.

Jabareen announced the offer in a video statement, proposing what he described as a parliamentary “safety net” rather than formal participation in a governing coalition.

The arrangement could involve the Joint List abstaining on key votes or voting with the opposition to enable it to secure a Knesset majority.

Jabareen made clear that the party’s backing would not come without conditions.

Its demands include a funded national program to address violent crime in the Arab community, an immediate end to home demolitions and approval of master planning zones.

The Joint List is also seeking land allocations for young couples and official recognition of unrecognized Arab villages in the Negev.

On diplomatic and security issues, Jabareen called for concrete progress toward establishing a Palestinian state and vocal opposition to the military escalation in Gaza and Judea and Samaria.

The proposal could become significant following the upcoming general election.

Recent opinion polls indicate that neither Netanyahu’s right-wing religious bloc nor the mainstream Zionist opposition is positioned to reach the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-member Knesset without support from Arab parties.

Such an arrangement, however, has been publicly rejected by leading figures in the anti-Netanyahu camp. Gadi Eisenkot and Naftali Bennett are among Jewish opposition leaders who have resisted or ruled out forming a government dependent on Arab factions.

Most mainstream anti-Netanyahu parties also oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu has sought to make the possibility of Arab party involvement an election issue, claiming in attack ads that his opponents would bring Arab factions into their government.

The Joint List’s proposal would not necessarily require it to become part of such a government. Instead, its votes or abstentions could allow an opposition bloc that otherwise falls short of 61 seats to command a parliamentary majority.