Israelis protest for alliance between opposition and Arab parties to remove Netanyahu from power

Hundreds of Israelis took to the streets this Saturday (31) to pressure the opposition to ally with Arab parties with the aim of removing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from power, who, in turn, intensified attacks against the leaders of this minority.

Israel's Arab parties made significant progress in the elections held last Tuesday (27), driven by the hostile rhetoric of Netanyahu's far-right government. Despite this, the opposition leader, Gadi Eisenkot, has not yet decided whether he will accept an alliance with these parties.

Ayelet Raz, a 60-year-old protester in Tel Aviv, argued that the Arab community, which represents about 20% of the Israeli population, has the right to participate in government. "It's the last opportunity to promote real change," said the psychologist. "We need to give peace a chance. Otherwise, we will have this bloodshed forever," he warned.

No bloc won a majority in the 120-seat Israeli Parliament in Tuesday's elections. The Jewish-majority parties opposed to Netanyahu won 48 seats, while the Arab-majority Ra'am and Joint List parties together won 19 seats.

An alliance between the two blocs would give them 67 seats, a comfortable majority for the prime minister's opponents. However, some opposition parties reject any rapprochement with the Arabs. "Arabs and Jews win together" and "there is a majority in favor of change", read the banners displayed by around 500 protesters in Tel Aviv.

Arab parties participated in the government only once, when Ra'am leader Mansur Abbas was part of a short-lived coalition between 2021 and 2022. Abbas declared his willingness to repeat the experience. The leader of the Joint List, Yusef Jabareen, told AFP that he would be willing to support Eisenkot in Parliament without joining the government.

But Eisenkot, a former military chief with a centrist profile who shares some of Netanyahu's positions on security issues, declared that he would only accept forming a "Zionist government", whose members commit to "recognizing Israel as a Jewish, democratic and liberal state" and consider Hamas a "terrorist organization", conditions that Arab leaders have rejected in the past. The opponent said he does not want to depend on Arab parties, but he also did not explicitly rule out their support.

Parallel to the demonstration in Tel Aviv, more than 100 Netanyahu supporters held an event of their own. Next Thursday (5), Israeli President Isaac Herzog is expected to task Netanyahu or Eisenkot with trying to form a new government.

In parallel to the electoral negotiations, Israel continues to carry out attacks in the Gaza Strip. This Sunday (1), bombings killed eight people, including a child, according to emergency services and local hospitals.

Five people died in Khan Yunis and another three in Gaza City, said a statement from the Civil Defense of the Palestinian territory — an organization controlled by Hamas. Israeli planes "attacked several police officers who were on duty" in Khan Yunis, the Gaza Strip's Interior Ministry said.

Consulted by AFP, the Israeli Army reported that it had attacked "one terrorist" in the south of the territory and "several others" in the north, and that it was "analyzing the results of the bombings".

The Israeli military offensive — launched in Gaza after the unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people — displaced almost the entire population and caused more than 74,500 deaths, according to the territory's Ministry of Health. The UN considers these figures to be reliable.