Arab political party unprepared for new elections in Israel
If new elections are called this week, the opposition Joint List will be hard pressed to convince its electorate it has its own agenda worth supporting.
Members of the Arab Joint List have been quiet on social media over the past few days. Party senior Ahmad Tibi posted his last tweet June 20, the day Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced their intention to disperse the Knesset. Party head Ayman Odeh tweeted June 23, "It was the effort to preserve the occupation that overthrew the government."
The Joint List opposed the decision of the Arab, Islamic Ra’am to join the coalition, and its members have said time and again they would support efforts to topple it. Still, they gave very few interviews last week, while Ra’am head Mansour Abbas has been constantly invited to appear on radio and TV talk shows.
Clearly, as far as the press is concerned, Ra’am is a significant player in the developing political drama that could lead to new elections in the fall, while the Joint List's role is secondary.
Bennett’s government hopes to dissolve the Knesset today or later this week, meaning that Israel will enter its fifth election cycle in just three and a half years. The only thing that could possibly prevent it is opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu managing to form an alternative government in the current Knesset. Unlikely? Perhaps. But Israelis have learned over the years that with Netanyahu, anything is possible.
