The two Arab parties – the United Arab List and the Joint List – are set to almost double their representation because of a surge in turnout among Arab Israelis, who account for about a fifth of the population and often describe themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Mahdi Kabaha, who lives in a village near Haifa and campaigned to get out the Arab vote, described the result as “historic”.
“Arab citizens came out and said clearly: we want a real say in this country,” he said.
The head of the Joint List, Yousef Jabareen, told the BBC that Arab voters had been motivated in part by the opportunity to remove far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from office, whom he accused of racism and “provocation against our community”.
Ben-Gvir, the leader of the Jewish Power party, has called for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, Jewish settlement of Gaza, and the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians. Several Western countries have imposed sanctions on him for incitement against Palestinians.
United Arab List leader Mansour Abbas, who served in a short-lived governing coalition formed after the 2021 elections, said on Tuesday night that he hoped “the numbers will work out and we, the Change Bloc and the UAL, can ensure that there are 61 Knesset seats”.
The leader of the left-wing Democrats party, Yair Golan, told his partners in Eisenkot’s bloc that there was an “opportunity to form a change government in partnership” with the Arab parties and replace Netanyahu’s coalition.
“We have no future here if we don’t stop being afraid. And if we don’t put an end to racism,” he wrote on X.
Eisenkot has previously raised objections or attached conditions to that kind of alliance, including recognising Israel as Jewish and democratic, and Hamas as a terrorist organisation that must be destroyed. The right-wing parties in his bloc, meanwhile, have flatly rejected it.
“The opposition parties cannot dictate any conditions,” Jabareen said. “If the opposition in Israel are willing to afford real and substantive change, and an alternative for the dangerous, extreme-right-wing government… they will have to negotiate with us.”
Netanyahu’s Likud party has accused the Arab parties of “stealing” the election.
It complained to the Central Elections Committee (CEC) on Wednesday that they had resorted to “bribery, threats, violence, fraud and the use of prohibited software to encourage voters”, without providing any evidence. The CEC said it would examine the allegations as part of a comprehensive post-election review.
On Thursday, CEC chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg instructed the Shin Bet domestic security service to investigate what he described as “serious suspicions” regarding “improper influence through foreign funding by external actors operating against Israeli interests”.
He gave no further details, but the Haaretz newspaper cited a source as saying the committee had been presented with a claim that the Gulf state of Qatar had provided funding aimed at increasing voter turnout in Arab communities.
“This is an attack on democracy aimed at enabling foreign control of the Knesset, the Islamization of Israel, and the removal of the right-wing government,” Likud said.
But Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh, who is part of the Joint List, dismissed the allegation, saying: “The losing side is constructing a racist blood libel and calling on the security agencies to use force in order to overturn the election results.”
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman, Majed al-Ansari, denied that it had interfered in Israeli elections or funded any activities intended to influence their outcome. “The accusations are ridiculous and dangerous in equal measure,” he warned.
