Israeli Protests Call for Government with Arab Parties
Thousands assembled at Habima Square in central Tel Aviv, urging political leaders to work with the Joint List and Ra’am, also known as the United Arab List, according to reports.
Protesters displayed banners reading “Through partnership and equality, we change the government” and “The people gave you their support — form a government now” before marching toward Rabin Square.
Similar gatherings took place elsewhere, including at Paris Square in Jerusalem, where hundreds participated, and outside the auditorium in Haifa. Dozens also demonstrated in Beersheba, while another rally was held at the Ras Amer junction near the towns of Tira and Tayibe.
Photographs from the demonstrations showed participants in Tel Aviv and Haifa holding signs bearing the figures “67” and “53,” representing the distribution of seats in the Knesset following Tuesday’s election.
Parties opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a combined 67 seats in the 120-member parliament. This total included 48 seats held by Jewish parties in the opposition change bloc and 19 won by Arab parties. Netanyahu’s political bloc obtained 53 seats.
At the same time, hundreds of right-wing activists gathered at Habima Square to oppose bringing Arab parties into the government.
The counter-demonstrators chanted slogans including “Bibi is king of Israel,” referring to Netanyahu, “The people want election integrity” and “The people demand new elections.”
Although police had assigned the opposing demonstrations separate areas, dozens of right-wing activists arrived ahead of schedule and entered the section reserved for supporters of cooperation between Jewish and Arab parties, according to reports.
Despite the combined parliamentary strength of parties opposing Netanyahu, most Jewish-led factions in that camp have ruled out forming a coalition with Arab parties.
As a result, the Jewish parties in the change bloc hold only 48 seats, leaving them five short of Netanyahu’s 53 and well below the 61 required for a parliamentary majority.
Neither Netanyahu nor his Zionist political opponents can currently assemble a governing majority without support from Arab factions or defections from within the change bloc.
Ra’am has indicated its willingness to participate in a government, while Joint List leader Yousef Jabareen has said his party is ready to help create the conditions for Netanyahu’s government to be removed.
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