Yoav Segalovitz, first Jewish candidate on Ra’am slate, wants to ‘break down walls’

Yoav Segalovitz, a Jewish former police officer, might not seem like the most obvious recruit for an Arab, Muslim party in Israel.

But ahead of Israel’s general election on October 27, he has jumped ship from the centrist Yesh Atid party to join Ra’am, one of two Arab lists contesting the vote, becoming the first Jewish candidate to run on the party’s ticket.

In an interview with AFP at his home in Tel Aviv, he said he hoped for a genuine political partnership between Israel’s Jewish and Arab communities.

“If we want life here to be good, we need to break down walls, not reinforce them,” he said.

“Walk into a hospital and you’ll find everyone there: Arabs, Jews, Muslims, Druze, Christians. And there is no problem. Questions of identity don’t exist there,” he added.