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Edificio de la Knéset en Jerusalén al atardecer, con banderas y una explanada vacía
El edificio de la Knéset, en Jerusalén, al atardecer. · Imagen generada — Erick Prometeo Media

Joint List opens to pacts for an alternative to Netanyahu in Israel

Joint List leader Yusef Jabarin opened his party to pacts with Jewish parties to build an alternative to Netanyahu's government, whose bloc does not reach 61…

--- The context --- Elections in Israel left a parliamentary map without a clear majority for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc. His party, Likud, won the vote, but his bloc does not reach the parliamentary majority of 61 seats needed to govern comfortably. Within that fragmented landscape, Arab political forces emerged stronger, their weight in the Knesset grew markedly, and they became a piece without which building an alternative government looks very difficult. --- The facts --- The leader of the Joint List, Yusef Jabarin, said on Wednesday that his party is open to pacts with Jewish parties to build an alternative to Netanyahu's government. According to the count, the Joint List wins 13 seats, while the United Arab List, known as Raam, takes another six. Together they reach a historic figure of 19 seats in the next Israeli parliament. That result places Arab parties in a key position for the formation of a government and, in particular, for a coalition led by former chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot to reach power. --- The positions --- Jabarin argued in televised remarks that anyone who wants to offer a substantial and genuine alternative to the current government, which he described as marked by bloodshed, will have to talk to his party to pave the way toward the change that, in his view, the Israeli people long for. He also framed a choice between keeping racism, exclusion and supremacy, or establishing genuine collaboration between Jews and Arabs. Arab political forces, for their part, celebrated the historic results achieved in the election and reaffirmed their willingness to form part of a future governing coalition, seeing themselves as essential to displacing the current prime minister's right-wing Jewish bloc. --- What remains unknown --- The source does not detail any closed deals or a coalition already formed. It also does not specify what concrete conditions the Joint List would put on the table, or how responsibilities would be shared in an eventual alternative government. What is known so far is the declared willingness to negotiate and the new parliamentary weight backing that offer. --- Unanswered questions --- Will Jewish parties agree to sit down and negotiate with the Joint List to build that alternative? What concrete conditions will Jabarin's party demand in exchange for its parliamentary support? Will a coalition led by Gadi Eisenkot manage to gather the backing it needs to reach power? Will the historic weight of 19 seats translate into a real presence inside a future government? --- EPM analysis --- Jabarin's opening turns an election result into political leverage. With 19 combined seats, Arab forces stop being a testimonial actor and start conditioning any alternative majority, because Netanyahu's bloc does not reach 61 seats. The offer of collaboration between Jews and Arabs is presented, in this reading, as the path its promoter considers capable of opening the current prime minister's exit, provided the other parties agree to negotiate. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, the central news is not only that Likud won without a sufficient majority, but that the parliamentary center of gravity shifted: without the 19 Arab seats there is no credible arithmetic alternative to Netanyahu's government. Jabarin's opening puts a political price on that weight and forces Jewish parties to choose between exclusion and collaboration. If the negotiation succeeds, Israel could see an unprecedented coalition; if it fails, the deadlock will show that nobody wanted to pay the cost of change.
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