Likud seeks to bar two Arab lists from Israel’s next Knesset election

Israel’s Likud party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Sunday it plans to submit requests to prevent the Joint List and the United Arab List (Ra’am) from running in the next Knesset election, scheduled for October.

“Likud will submit requests to prevent the Joint List and Ra’am from taking part in the election,” the party said in a statement.

It claimed that “there is no place in the Knesset for those who insult Israeli army soldiers and cannot say that Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organisations”.

Likud also described the two Arab lists as “supporters of terrorism” as part of its attack on Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party.

The party claimed the two lists were Eisenkot’s “natural partners” and alleged that he wanted to form a government with them, along with opposition leaders Yair Golan and Avigdor Lieberman.

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“This must not be allowed to happen,” Likud said.

Eisenkot, a former army chief of staff, has emerged as a main electoral rival to Netanyahu.

The Joint List was established in 2015 as an alliance of four major Arab parties: Hadash, Balad, Ta’al and Ra’am. It has since undergone several splits and changes, with Hadash, Balad and Ta’al currently forming the alliance.

Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas, broke away from the Joint List and now contests Knesset elections independently. The party has roots in the southern branch of the Islamic Movement and became the first Arab list to join an Israeli governing coalition in 2021.

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