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Former PM Naftali Bennett rules out coalition with Islamist Arab party

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says that he will not build a new coalition government with the United Arab List – despite having allied with the party to become premier in 2021.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Monday that the possible addition of Jewish lawmaker Yoav Segalovitz to the United Arab List’s (known in Hebrew by the acronym as Ra’am) election slate would not make the Arab Islamist party an acceptable coalition partner, drawing a firm line as Israel’s opposition searches for a path to a governing majority.

“I don’t speak based on a person’s identity or race. I speak based on principles. The government will be Zionist,” Bennett told Galei Tzahal.

The comments came amid reports that Segalovitz, a Yesh Atid MK and former senior police commander, is considering running in a prominent position on the slate headed by UAL chairman Mansour Abbas. Segalovitz is expected to meet Abbas after returning from a trip abroad, although no agreement has been signed and both sides still face significant political and ideological obstacles.

Bennett’s rejection undercuts speculation that placing a well-known Jewish Zionist on the UAL ticket could make the party more acceptable to the anti-Netanyahu bloc after the October 27 election.

Bennett leads Together, the recently formed alliance between his party and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid. Segalovitz currently belongs to that political framework, but reports have suggested he could receive a higher and safer position with UAL than on the consolidated Together slate.

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Segalovitz has not publicly announced that he is leaving Yesh Atid. Reports say he has agreed in principle to explore the move, while Abbas must secure support within UAL and complete the establishment of the party’s new internal institutions. Some UAL figures reportedly oppose placing a Jewish candidate on the ticket.

Abbas sought to lower expectations over the weekend, saying the party’s immediate priority was its August 22 conference, internal elections and organizational restructuring.

“UAL is currently focused on the primaries and completing the establishment of its independent institutions,” Abbas wrote, adding that outside candidates would be discussed later.

UAL is undergoing a broader transformation intended to separate its political decision-making from the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement and its Shura Council, which previously exercised substantial influence over party affairs. Abbas has described the planned structure as that of a civic political party with independent institutions.

The prospective partnership with Segalovitz forms part of Abbas’s attempt to widen UAL’s appeal beyond its traditional Arab Muslim constituency and position it as a pragmatic participant in a future government.

An internal UAL survey of 750 Arab citizens reportedly found that 75% viewed Segalovitz as the Jewish lawmaker closest to their positions and most responsive to their needs, placing him far ahead of several other Jewish opposition politicians.

Segalovitz developed close ties with Arab local leaders while serving as deputy public security minister in the Bennett-Lapid government. He oversaw the “Safe Track” program targeting organized crime and illegal weapons in Arab communities and has continued visiting towns affected by violent crime since leaving office.

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Bennett himself campaigned alongside Segalovitz in the Negev in May, praising his record on crime. Bennett said Segalovitz was “not good at TikTok” but had succeeded in reducing violence, contrasting him with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Any Segalovitz-UAL agreement would apparently require significant ideological concessions from Abbas’s party. Segalovitz reportedly would insist that UAL recognize Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and support national civilian service for Arab citizens as an alternative to military enlistment.

Segalovitz has presented his approach as an effort to create a shared Israeli civic identity rather than erase differences between Jewish and Arab citizens. Discussing the mixed staff and patient population at Soroka Medical Center, he said: “Everyone shares the same fate. Everyone is Israeli.”

A senior Yesh Atid official voiced support for the initiative, arguing that UAL’s efforts to distance itself from international Islamist organizations could make it a legitimate governing partner.

“It is an excellent idea,” the official said, adding that UAL “can be a partner in the government.”

Bennett, however, has repeatedly rejected relying on an Arab-majority faction to form his next government. Shortly after launching the Together alliance in April, he said that Israel should be governed by Zionist parties committed to military or national service.

“Will I care for the Arab citizens of Israel? Of course,” Bennett said at the time. “But to depend [on an Arab political party?] No.”

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The position marks a departure from Bennett’s conduct in 2021, when he formed an ideologically diverse government with Lapid, right-wing and left-wing parties and UAL. It was the first time an independent Arab party formally joined an Israeli governing coalition, but the alliance collapsed after approximately 18 months.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly invoked that government in attacking Bennett and Lapid, warning voters that the opposition leaders would again depend on Abbas. After Bennett and Lapid announced their new alliance, Netanyahu posted an image of the two men with the UAL chairman and declared: “They did it once, they’ll do it again.”

Netanyahu himself held extensive talks with Abbas while trying to assemble a government after the 2021 election, but the prospective arrangement was blocked by Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich. Abbas has repeatedly said Netanyahu was prepared to form a government supported by UAL.

Most recent polls show the opposition bloc will not have a majority in the next Knesset without the help of at least one of the two Arab lists which are expected to cross the electoral threshold, complicating efforts to form a government without Netanyahu’s Likud, ultra-Orthodox parties, or the right-wing Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionist Party.

Polling also shows Bennett’s Together list hemorrhaging support to a rival centrist faction, former IDF chief of staff and ex-minister Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar! (Forward!) party.