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Netanyahu's Likud Moves to Disqualify Arab Parties From Knesset Race
(MENAFN) Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party announced Sunday it will push to bar two Arab-majority parties from competing in Israel's Oct. 27 Knesset election, escalating tensions ahead of the vote.
Likud said it intends to file formal requests to disqualify both the Joint List and the United Arab List (Ra'am), accusing the parties of backing "terrorism." The party claimed both groups disparage Israeli soldiers and have refused to label Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations — though Likud's statement offered no evidence to substantiate the claims.
The disqualification bid comes as Likud ramps up its offensive against former army chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, whose Yashar party has surged to become Netanyahu's most formidable electoral challenger. Likud cast the two Arab parties as Eisenkot's "natural partners," alleging he would lean on them — alongside opposition figures Yair Golan and Avigdor Lieberman — to assemble a governing coalition.
The Joint List unites several Arab political factions in Israel, while Ra'am, headed by Mansour Abbas, now runs independently after splitting from that alliance. Ra'am made history in 2021 as the first Arab party to join an Israeli governing coalition.
The political stakes are high: recent polling shows Eisenkot's Yashar party outpacing Likud, while neither Netanyahu's bloc nor the opposition has a clear route to the 61 seats required to govern. That deadlock could hand Arab parties substantial leverage in the coalition negotiations expected after the vote.
Likud said it intends to file formal requests to disqualify both the Joint List and the United Arab List (Ra'am), accusing the parties of backing "terrorism." The party claimed both groups disparage Israeli soldiers and have refused to label Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations — though Likud's statement offered no evidence to substantiate the claims.
The disqualification bid comes as Likud ramps up its offensive against former army chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, whose Yashar party has surged to become Netanyahu's most formidable electoral challenger. Likud cast the two Arab parties as Eisenkot's "natural partners," alleging he would lean on them — alongside opposition figures Yair Golan and Avigdor Lieberman — to assemble a governing coalition.
The Joint List unites several Arab political factions in Israel, while Ra'am, headed by Mansour Abbas, now runs independently after splitting from that alliance. Ra'am made history in 2021 as the first Arab party to join an Israeli governing coalition.
The political stakes are high: recent polling shows Eisenkot's Yashar party outpacing Likud, while neither Netanyahu's bloc nor the opposition has a clear route to the 61 seats required to govern. That deadlock could hand Arab parties substantial leverage in the coalition negotiations expected after the vote.
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