Amit Segal, the senior political commentator for News 12, provides an explanation for the silence of the chairman of the Religious Zionist Party - until this morning - in the face of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's contacts with the chairman of the Ra'am Party, Mansour Abbas.
Segal wrote in his weekly column in Yedioth Ahronoth: "The chairman of Religious Zionism does not rule out this connection in principle, but in practice: He believes that what is keeping the right wing safe is the low participation rate of Israeli Arabs in elections. If they feel influenced, they will turn out to the polls in higher rates than the Jews, as happens in local elections in the sector. This will be a cry for generations, Smotrich warned Netanyahu.".
Netanyahu, in response, asked Smotrich not to speak out any further, at least so as not to drive Abbas into the arms of the left.
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'"It is doubtful whether this fear is real: if a right-wing government does not come to his aid, Abbas will already prefer new elections. His speech yesterday was intended to qualify him among the Smotrichs as well," Segal writes.
According to Segal, Mansour Abbas wants to go with the Israeli right to eliminate the Joint List.
""Abbas wants to politically destroy Odeh and Tibi. He wants a long period in which he will be the man on the chopping block of finances and legislation, and Tibi and Odeh will rot in the opposition, losing the remnants of their relevance and influence.".
""This is why the chance that RAAM will go with Lapid to a '61 center-left-Arab government is slim; not only because Sa'ar and his people are reluctant to rely on the support of the joint coalition, but because in such a government RAAM has no advantage over Tibi and Odeh. That's not why they went all the way.".
