Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Golan Urges Alliance With Arab Parties to Oust Netanyahu

Yair Golan, leader of Israel’s main left-wing alliance, The Democrats, has urged opposition parties to join forces with Arab political parties to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power.

Golan’s call came after preliminary vote-counting results in the parliamentary election indicated that no political bloc had secured a clear majority.

In a post on social media platform X, Golan said the opposition should no longer accept what he described as the racial division between Jewish and Arab voters created by Netanyahu. He argued that the opposition now had both an opportunity and a responsibility to form a reform-oriented government through a partnership with Arab citizens of Israel.

According to figures from Israel’s Central Elections Committee cited by The Times of Israel, Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc was projected to win 54 seats in the 120-member Knesset, with approximately 72.4 per cent of the votes counted.

The opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot was projected to secure 48 seats, while parties primarily representing Arab voters were expected to win a combined 18 seats.

A minimum of 61 seats is required to form a government in Israel’s 120-member parliament. Neither of the two main blocs was projected to reach that threshold independently.

However, if Eisenkot’s opposition bloc reaches a political understanding with the Arab parties, their combined total would rise to 66 seats, potentially allowing them to form an alternative government and end Netanyahu’s tenure.

Among the Arab parties, the Joint List was projected to win 12 seats, while the United Arab List, also known as Ra’am, was expected to secure four.

Despite Netanyahu’s Likud party leading the individual party standings with 28 seats, Eisenkot’s Yashar party was projected to finish second with 21 seats.

The Together alliance was expected to win 11 seats, while Golan’s Democrats, United Torah Judaism and Yisrael Beiteinu were each projected to secure eight seats.

Shas and Otzma Yehudit were each projected to win seven seats, while Religious Zionism was expected to secure six.

These figures could change before the Central Elections Committee announces the final results.

For now, the preliminary projections suggest that Arab political parties could play a decisive role in determining the composition of Israel’s next government, with their willingness to cooperate with the opposition emerging as a key factor in the post-election political negotiations.