Yair Golan pushes to include Arab party in gov’t, dividing opposition leaders

The comments came after opposition leaders made a pre-election pact in bid to replace Netanyahu, even as polls show path to a majority increasingly unclear.

By World Israel News Staff

Chairman of the far-left Democrats party Yair Golan said Sunday that an Arab party should join Israel’s next government, setting out a position at odds with several of his opposition partners just hours after the bloc’s leaders pledged to cooperate ahead of the October 27 election.

“My position is well known. We are working internally to ensure appropriate Arab representation, and we also believe that an Arab party can be part of the government,” Golan said in an interview with Kan Reshet Bet.

“It is natural, right, appropriate, democratic, and in my view reflects how genuine change can be brought about after years of incitement,” he added.

The comments highlighted one of the most significant unresolved questions facing the opposition: whether a government seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could include, or rely upon, Arab parties.

Golan has previously described United Arab List (Ra’am) chairman Mansour Abbas as a legitimate potential partner.

His party moved shortly after Sunday’s interview to state that the issue had not been agreed upon by the broader opposition bloc.

The Democrats said Golan had been expressing the party’s own position, which seeks to “promote Jewish-Arab partnership and the integration of Arab citizens of Israel into the leadership of the state after the elections.”

The possibility of bringing an Arab party into the government “did not come up” during the opposition leaders’ meeting the previous night, the party added.

That distinction is particularly significant because Golan’s position conflicts with statements from Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot, currently one of the central figures in the opposition’s effort to form the next government.

Speaking before Saturday night’s meeting, Eisenkot said Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties would have to meet a series of conditions to participate in a government he leads, including accepting Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, supporting universal national service and recognizing Hamas as a terrorist organization that must be destroyed.

“At the moment I don’t see any Arab or ultra-Orthodox parties who accept these principles, including [UAL chief MK] Mansour Abbas, and therefore he won’t be part of my next government,” Eisenkot said.

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman has also rejected the possibility of forming a government with the UAL.

The disagreement emerged immediately after five senior opposition figures — Eisenkot, Golan, Liberman, former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid — gathered at Lapid’s Tel Aviv home Saturday night in an effort to end weeks of public disputes and coordinate their campaigns.

The leaders signed a joint declaration acknowledging their ideological differences while defining the formation of a new government as their shared objective.

“We are united and determined to bring correction and hope to the State of Israel,” they declared.

They also pledged to stop attacking one another through election day and the subsequent coalition-building process.

“From today until the formation of the government, none of us or anyone on our behalf will attack a partner party in the bloc or its leader,” the agreement stated.

The five leaders also agreed to establish joint teams to increase voter turnout, coordinate election-day preparations, formulate guidelines for a prospective government and combat what they described as disinformation and smear campaigns.

Among the issues they agreed should be addressed by a future government were universal service, the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attack, term limits for the prime minister and the advancement of a constitution.

They did not, however, resolve who would serve as their candidate for prime minister or how a coalition would reach the 61 seats required for a Knesset majority.

Recent polling has shown Jewish opposition parties winning a total of between 45 and 54 seats.

The disagreement over Arab parties therefore goes directly to one of the bloc’s central coalition questions.

The United Arab List (Ra’am) made Israeli political history in 2021 when it joined the Bennett-Lapid coalition, becoming the first independent Arab party to formally participate in an Israeli governing coalition. Abbas has since continued to argue for Arab participation in national decision-making.

UAL official Yoav Segalovitz responded to Eisenkot’s rejection of the party by accusing him of yielding to political pressure.

“Israel needs big change and true partnership through brave leadership,” Segalovitz said. “Eisenkot won’t have a government without the UAL.”

Netanyahu and Likud have meanwhile sought to make the possibility of Arab participation in an opposition-led government a major campaign issue.

Following Saturday’s meeting, Netanyahu published an altered version of the opposition leaders’ group photograph that added Abbas and Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi to the image.

Likud later seized on Golan’s remarks, declaring: “Eisenkot will form a left-wing government with Yair Golan, Liberman, Bennett and the Arab parties.”

The dispute is unfolding amid separate uncertainty over whether Israel’s two main Arab electoral lists will be permitted to contest the election at all.

The Central Elections Committee voted last week to disqualify both the United Arab List (Ra’am) and the Joint List from participating in the October election. Those decisions are subject to judicial review, with the Supreme Court expected to consider the matter this week.

2026 Israeli electionarab partiesYair Golan