{"id":129376,"date":"2026-05-24T22:29:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/129376\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T22:29:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:29:31","slug":"arab-parties-urge-raam-to-join-efforts-to-revive-joint-list-ahead-of-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/129376\/","title":{"rendered":"Arab parties urge Ra\u2019am to join efforts to revive Joint List ahead of elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three of the four Arab-majority political parties reiterated their readiness to form a joint electoral list ahead of the upcoming elections, and called on the fourth, the Islamist Ra\u2019am, to join the effort even though its officials have declined to take part in recent consultations.<\/p>\n

The appeal from Hadash, Ta\u2019al, and Balad on Sunday came after months of deadlock in negotiations to revive the four-party Joint List slate. The slate first formed in 2015 and split up in 2021 after Ra\u2019am, headed by Mansour Abbas, broke away from the other parties to join the short-lived coalition led by then-prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.<\/p>\n

The slate collapsed altogether ahead of the 2022 elections when the nationalist Balad pursued an ultimately unsuccessful solo run, leaving the remaining two parties to form the joint Hadash-Ta\u2019al list.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement on Sunday, Hadash, Ta\u2019al, and Balad said that they \u201cwould want Ra\u2019am to also be a partner in the political agreement, but we are aware of significant gaps in positions between us relating to the nature and path of the Joint List.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement appeared to be a reference to Ra\u2019am\u2019s declared openness to joining a governing coalition following the election, which no other Arab party has done for decades.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

But Hadash, Ta\u2019al, and Balad added that due to \u201cexistential dangers\u201d Arab parties are facing, they nevertheless wanted to include Ra\u2019am in an agreement to form a new Joint List in order \u201cto strengthen Arab representation and overthrow the extremist right-wing government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tHadash leader Ayman Odeh (second from right) and members of the Arab community protest against the violence in their community, in Sakhnin on January 22, 2026. (Michael Giladi\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Historically the largest and most influential of the Arab factions, Hadash has long championed re-establishing the unified slate of Arab parties.<\/p>\n

In January, the four parties signed an agreement<\/a> committing to work together to revive the list ahead of this year\u2019s elections, which can be held no later than October 27. That agreement was a response to grassroots pressure from Arab Israeli communities that are facing an unprecedented wave of deadly crime.<\/p>\n

But little progress has been made since due to Ra\u2019am\u2019s insistence that it be allowed to join the slate for the election alone, and then break away after the vote and independently pursue a spot in a governing coalition.<\/p>\n

Bennett, considered the most credible candidate to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has rejected Ra\u2019am as a potential coalition partner despite having led the 2021-2022 government that included the Islamist party. He has said<\/a> his next government would include only Zionist parties and that, following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre, Israel\u2019s coalition should not depend<\/a> on an Arab party.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tRa\u2019am party head, Mansour Abbas (c), grasps the hand of then-prime minister Naftali Bennett in the Knesset in Jerusalem, on October13, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Other opposition leaders have also either explicitly rejected Arab parties as coalition partners or called for a purely Zionist government, which would mean Arab parties are excluded. Meanwhile, Netanyahu and his supporters regularly condemn and delegitimize Arab parties.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Channel 13 reported that Netanyahu\u2019s allies are seeking to outlaw Ra\u2019am as a terror group ahead of the elections. In a post on X, Abbas called the reported plan \u201canti-democratic\u201d and said his party would answer at the ballot box.<\/p>\n

Only Yair Golan, the leader of the left-wing Democrats, has openly encouraged<\/a> his fellow opposition leaders to partner with Ra\u2019am again, and urged them to \u201cstop playing along\u201d with the demonization of the party.<\/p>\n

Despite uniting sharply dissonant ideological views \u2014 ranging from the secular socialist Hadash to religious conservative Ra\u2019am \u2014 the Joint List alliance had a track record of energizing Arab voters and bringing the sector unprecedented political influence.<\/p>\n

From its formation in 2015 until Ra\u2019am\u2019s departure in 2021, the Joint List was the third-largest bloc in the 120-seat Knesset. At its peak in 2020, it won 15 seats.<\/p>\n

Ariela Karmel contributed to this report.<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tWhich gorgeous bird do you prefer?\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

THIS MONTH ONLY: Join our reader support group for as little as $6\/month and receive an exclusive tote bag featuring one of Israel\u2019s native birds.<\/p>\n

Choose between the\u00a0Duchifat (orange), Israel’s national bird, or the Shaldag (blue), a beloved symbol of the Israeli landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a member of the Times of Israel Community,\u00a0you’ll also enjoy:<\/p>\n


\nAn ad-free experience of our site and podcasts.
\nExclusive access to award-winning films via DocuNation.
\nWeekly letters from founding editor David Horovitz. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin ToI Community & claim my bag\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tCLAIM YOUR BAG\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tYou’re a dedicated reader\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.<\/p>\n

So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven\u2019t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.<\/p>\n

For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three of the four Arab-majority political parties reiterated their readiness to form a joint electoral list ahead of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[43501,39524,37,2742,43500,36863],"class_list":["post-129376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-balad","tag-hadash-taal-party","tag-israel","tag-israeli-politics","tag-joint-list","tag-raam-party-united-arab-list"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116631919957671471","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}