On the opening day of Israel’s new Knesset, there was no let-up in the high drama. First, the man selected to form the new government, Gadi Eisenkot, presented a joint statement, signed by the other four leaders in his bloc, that they were united in their first order of business—deposing Netanyahu’s divisive Speaker of the House, Amir Ohana, and replacing him with Matan Kahana, a member of Eisenkot’s Yashar party. That represents 48 of the needed 61 votes.
The head of the Joint Arab List, Ahmad Tibi, added their 11 seats. He told Kan public broadcaster: “The first crucial step signaling change is the replacement of the Knesset speaker. The Yashar party informed us that it would be Matan Kahana. I congratulate him, and we will vote for him, because we want to be part of the change.” With that, all that is needed for the initial successful Jewish-Palestinian collaboration in the Knesset are two votes from the 8-seated Ra’am, the other Arab-majority party. Ohana has already declared, peremptorily, that he plans to delay any vote for up to a week.
After gaining the Speaker position, Eisenkot’s coalition plans to set up the long-delayed state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and introduce term limits for Israel’s prime ministers—both aimed at Netanyahu.
Further, Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas deepened his offer to the Eisenkot bloc, telling them, according to the Times of Israel’s coverage of various Hebrew media reports, that he is prepared to explicitly recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization in exchange for “genuine partnership.” At issue is the fourth of Eisenkot’s four key principles for open collaboration and joining his governing coalition. And when leader of The Democrats, Yair Golan, was asked about Abbas’s offer, he said: “I don’t think recognition will be an obstacle for Abbas and that negotiations will take place.” At his own press briefing, Abbas explained that he and his party had “repeatedly accepted the dismantlement of Hamas” as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan and also that Ra’am “rejects and condemns all forms of terrorism.”
Entering the Knesset, one of Golan’s Democrats, MK Na’ama Lazimi, said that Ra’am emphatically has a place in the government. It “says it recognizes Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and [Israel’s] Declaration of Independence…. [I]t proposes a framework for citizen service for Arabs.” And it placed Yoav Segalovitz, a Jewish ex-police commander, at No. 2 on its slate.
Finally, Golan countered Netanyahu’s anti-Arab, racist appeals and emphasized the urgency of moving now on Eisenkot’s national emergency government. Golan said: “I call on all my colleagues in the Change bloc—let’s form a government quickly. Do not rule out the Arab parties, and do not rule out the Arab public.” Then, referring to the accepted presence of Arab citizens who serve in Israel’s healthcare system, he argued: “Anyone who can treat our wounded sons and save their lives deserves, has the right, and is capable of sitting alongside us in the Israeli government.” He warned that every additional day the outgoing coalition remains in power causes further damage to the country.
And to some in the Change bloc who are pushing the tenuous and unlikely path of trying to recruit members of Netanyahu’s bloc as a way of avoiding work with the Arab parties, he offered that “if we can strengthen [the government] later, we will know how to do so with sound judgment and generosity of spirit.”
