Opposition parties announce a boycott of Arab parties? RAAM Party Chairman Mansur Abbas claimed today (Tuesday), at the annual conference of Givat Haviva for a Joint Society, that "we will most likely establish a joint government for all of us.".
In his remarks, Abbas called for the partnership of Arab parties in the next elections.
According to the report on Ynet, Abbas referred to the 'Change Bloc' government led by Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett - and claimed: "We established it two weeks after the events of May 2021 - Guarding Walls, which in a certain sense were more difficult than the events of October 7." According to him, "I don't worry about whether or not a 'Change 2' government will be established - it will be established. What we need to do is speak to the entire public and mobilize it for this purpose. I am sure that on the day the decisions are made where we are headed, to a unity government, to a Change 2 government, more than 40% who support it want it to be established with RAAM.".
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
Abbas noted that he is aware of the challenge posed by low voter turnout in Arab society: "We want to bring in the Arab voters, half a million voters did not turn out. What RAAM is proposing is a partnership between the Arab parties: those who aspire to be in the coalition, good luck, and those who want to be a blocking bloc in the opposition, too.".
MK Ayman Odeh, chairman of Hadash-Ta'al, called out at the conference: "I am not running in the next elections. 2026 is an election year. I call on the Ra'am, Ta'al, Balad - let's all unite. Let's bring 17 seats. Let's be sure that we, with our own hands, were the decisive factor in preventing the Netanyahu-Ben Gvir-Smotrich government from continuing. If we stand before the president, and our vote decides whether Netanyahu continues, we will know how to pass the baton to anyone else. Even if there are repeated elections, the main thing is that Netanyahu does not continue. We must do everything, everything, to oust him.".
According to the report on Ynet, although Abbas also called for "partnership," it was actually the RAAM that was behind the scenes less supportive of the connection.
