(Israel Hayom) Dr. Ofir Haivry - One big winner in Israel's recent elections was Mansour Abbas and his party, Ra'am (United Arab List). With 195,000 votes, Ra'am won five seats in the Knesset, the same number as the joint Hadash (Communists) and Ta'al (Arab Movement for Renewal), which together received 180,000 votes. Balad (National Democratic Alliance) didn't pass the electoral threshold, receiving 140,000 votes. Thus, Ra'am became the largest Arab party, receiving 40% of the votes for Arab parties, with the remainder divided between the three other parties. Its success comes in the wake of the move by Abbas after the 2021 elections to be a partner in a coalition with Zionist parties, in the face of stern opposition within the Arab sector and even within his party. But in fact the Arab electorate didn't reject his move; he was rewarded with their votes, crowning Abbas as the leader of the Israeli Arab sector. The writer is vice president for Academic Affairs of the Herzl Institute and director of its National Strategy Initiative.
2022-12-01 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive