Ra’am chair Mansour Abbas and former MK Yoav Segalovitz made progress toward a political alliance on Wednesday, as Abbas faced backlash for asserting that he and other Arab lawmakers had been “compelled” to accept Israel’s Jewish character.
In a joint statement, the two lawmakers confirmed that they met on Wednesday for additional talks on the possibility of Segalovitz receiving a spot on the Ra’am candidate list ahead of the October 27 election. The two men confirmed two weeks ago that they were discussing the Jewish politician’s potential membership in the party, which has Islamist roots.
The pair “discussed the details of the move and its importance for all citizens of the State of Israel and the fabric of Jewish-Arab relations, amid numerous challenges and the need to present a worthy political alternative to the country’s citizens, both Jewish and Arab,” the statement said.
The emerging partnership with Segalovitz and Abbas’s comments on Israel’s Jewish character both play into the central debate surrounding Ra’am: Whether parties hoping to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should welcome it into a future governing coalition.
Polls show that Ra’am, which joined a previous coalition in 2021, would again deliver a governing majority to the anti-Netanyahu camp. Those in favor of including Ra’am point to the Segalovitz talks as proof that the party is invested in Arab-Jewish partnership. But some critics of the party, which has Islamist roots, are unwilling to rely on an Arab party to form a coalition, and have criticized Abbas’s support for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
