TEL AVIV, Israel:

Israel’s two Arab political parties are positioned to influence the next prime minister and government, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to prevent that. He has claimed there were significant criminal activities during the voting in Arab regions.

Preliminary results suggest the two Arab parties could secure a total of 19 seats in the Knesset, which comes as both Netanyahu’s Likud-led right-wing coalition and the opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot’s centrist bloc fall short of the 61 seats necessary for a majority.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu took to social media to assert that the election was “stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state.” He alleged serious crimes such as bribery, violence, threats, forgery, and illegal voter mobilization techniques.

“The Likud party is submitting numerous testimonies and evidence to the police and the Central Elections Committee regarding election misconduct at many Arab polling stations,” he stated.

He detailed allegations of thousands of cash-filled envelopes and Ra’am ballots, threats and violence against polling officials, instances of multiple votes cast behind screens, and discrepancies between the official count of ballots and voters.

He called for a thorough investigation into these allegations and a full prosecution of those involved, emphasizing the harm these offenses have caused to the integrity of the elections in Israel.

One of the Arab political alliances, the Joint List, which comprises three parties, was projected to gain 12 seats with over 90% of the votes counted. The United Arab List (Ra’am), led by Mansour Abbas, was expected to win seven seats.

About 21% of Israel’s population comprises Arab citizens, and voter turnout this election reached a record high of around 75% to 80%.

Dahlia Scheindlin, a senior analyst at Haaretz, mentioned that these parties are now a significant political force.

Netanyahu’s campaign suggested that the opposition might establish a government dependent on Arab party support, a move he indicated would threaten Israel’s existence by potentially creating a Palestinian terror state.

“This message was consistently repeated by him, even on election day,” Scheindlin pointed out.

The topic has proved politically sensitive, with leading Zionist opposition parties vowing not to collaborate with Arab factions.

They have committed to avoiding any coalition reliant on Arab votes, either from within or outside the coalition. If they were to accept such support, it would mean breaking that commitment.

While it might seem unlikely, Scheindlin noted that Netanyahu could still consider reaching out to an Arab party for possible cooperation.

Dr. Arik Rudnitzky, from the Israel Democracy Institute, highlighted that historically, Arab parties have mostly remained in the opposition and refrained from joining governmental coalitions. However, nowadays, their political strength is more pronounced.

Arab voters have been shifting away from supporting Jewish parties, with research showing that up to 90% of Arab voters currently back Arab parties.

Any potential support from Arab parties in a future coalition would likely come with demands for significant political concessions, including initiatives to combat crime in Arab communities and socioeconomic development plans.

This is a reminder, really, of the complexities of politics where no support comes without its own costs.

While the Joint List seems unlikely to be involved in a governing coalition, Abbas’s Ra’am party aims to work within the framework of a Jewish state while seeking improved conditions for Arab citizens.

In September, Israel’s Central Elections Committee moved to disqualify both the Joint List and Ra’am from participating in the elections, but this was overturned by the Supreme Court shortly after.

Critics, such as Martin Sherman from the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies, argue that Arab parties should not be allowed to participate in elections at all.

There’s an irony here—Arab Israelis voted in large numbers, and according to exit polls, they won more Knesset seats than ever. This counters the narrative that Israel operates as an apartheid state, as noted by Shahar Azani, a former Israeli diplomat. He stressed the importance of responsibility among Arab leaders and cautioned against extreme positions that could alienate them from Israel’s Jewish majority.