A surge in Arab voter turnout was key to depriving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist allies of a parliamentary majority in this week’s Israeli election, The Associated Press writes.
Undercutting Netanyahu’s ambitions was celebrated as sweet payback in the nearly 2 million-strong minority that the hard-line leader had relentlessly tried to tarnish as disloyal to the state.
An Arab-led alliance of parties is sending more lawmakers than ever to the new parliament, giving them unprecedented leverage to deliver results for their constituents and potentially transform Israel’s electoral politics for years to come.
Looking to galvanize his nationalist base, Netanyahu lambasted Arab lawmakers during the campaign as terrorist sympathizers who advocated for Palestinian interests and were a danger to the country. But the harsh rhetoric, coupled with concern over President Donald Trump’s Mideast plan and other legislation deemed discriminatory, seems to have backfired by energizing Arab voters.
“He’s a little racist and talked trash about Arabs, Arabs, Arabs. He talked dirty, and we showed him what Arabs can do,” Mahmoud Hazkiya, a 31-year-old salesman in the central Israeli town of Tira, said with a smile. “Arabs are interested now, and we are not getting what we deserve.”
Breaking out of years of political apathy, nearly 65% of Israel’s Arab citizens voted in Monday’s election — up from 59% in the September vote and 49% last April. It marked the highest Arab turnout since 1999.
With mergers among the Jewish-led leftist parties leaving their Arab candidates out of reasonable slots for parliament, Arabs rallied around the Joint List, with 88% casting their ballots for the umbrella group.
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