They will not govern Israel, but Arab-majority lists could be the kingmakers in Israel's close-fought elections next week, guided by a voter base fed up with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In interviews with AFP, the heads of the two predominantly Arab lists put forward a shared objective ahead of the October 27 vote: bring down what they say is a racist government.
Arab Israelis, also known as Palestinian citizens of Israel, account for about 21 percent of the country's population.
They are descendants of Palestinians who remained within Israel's borders after the state's creation in 1948, and have long complained of discrimination from Israel's Jewish majority.
As Israel's rightward shift severely tests the Arab minority's sense of belonging in society, many will head to the ballot box aiming to steer the country away from the far-right.
In Tuesday's vote, they will be represented by two lists.
Raam, a Hebrew acronym for United Arab List, is a moderate Islamist party headed by Mansour Abbas. In 2021, he agreed to join a short-lived coalition of Netanyahu's opponents, making Raam the first Arab party to join an Israeli government.
The far-left Joint List, led by Yousef Jabareen, brings together three parties with a mixture of communist and Palestinian nationalist leanings.
Abbas and Jabareen told AFP they were ready -- under certain conditions -- to cooperate with the opposition, particularly the bloc of Netanyahu's main rival Gadi Eisenkot, which is polling neck and neck with the premier's.
Depending on the number of seats won, they could help Eisenkot secure a majority in Israel's 120-member parliament and possibly participate in the next government.
"We want to be influential partners, so that we can bring decisions to the next government's table and... resolve the major problems and challenges facing Arab society," Abbas told AFP in the Arab city of Nazareth in northern Israel.
- 'Arab-Jewish partnership' -
The 52-year-old former dentist said he entered politics to combat the violent crime wave plaguing Arab-Israeli society -- a scourge which many in the community say is fuelled by police inaction.
This year, Abbas included on the Raam list its first-ever Jewish candidate, Yoav Segalovitz, a former senior Israeli police official who won popularity within Arab communities for his work combating crime.
The move "represents a positive commitment to Arab-Jewish partnership," Abbas said, adding that Segalovitz has "considerable professional expertise" fighting crime -- which has claimed the lives of more than 170 Arab-Israelis in 2026, according to the Abraham Initiatives coexistence organisation.
Abbas said he was not a true kingmaker, because there was no chance he would sit in a coalition with Netanyahu. The only option, he said, was to partner with Eisenkot's bloc.
"God willing, we will achieve our desired goal of eight seats," Abbas told AFP, a result which according to polls could allow the opposition to secure a majority.
- Demands -
Jabareen, a 54-year-old university professor specialising in human rights, said his Joint List could provide a "safety net" for an alternative government to Netanyahu's.
The Joint List, he said, was prepared to "cooperate with opposition parties".
But "I do not see, in the near future, a government that we could actually be part of. The current government continues to pursue the war on Gaza, settler terrorism in the West Bank, racist policies and legislation targeting Arab citizens," he added.
Jabareen said support for opposition parties depended on how they responded to the Joint List's platform and policy proposals.
"We are not in anyone's pocket, and we are not giving anyone a blank check. We have demands," he told AFP after a campaign rally in Nazareth.
Beyond political calculations, Arab-Israelis interviewed by AFP shared a common weariness with the current government.
"Never before has a government treated Arabs with such harshness. The government has viewed Arabs with hostility, nothing less than that," said a 68-year-old former high school director who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.
"I hope for change," said Hanaa Zraiq Sayegh, a 40-year-old dance school owner, but she said she felt attitudes towards Arab society in Israel were "going backwards".
Ziad Mansour, a 50-year-old barber, said the community simply wanted "a good, moderate government, one that treats its people and its country well".
"No wars, problems, violence and all these things. We've had enough."
AFP
