Arab-Israeli political calculus: How systemic exclusion shapes conditional solidarity against Netanyahu’s far-right bloc
Original framing: “Israeli Arab leader says party ready to back anti-Netanyahu government but not in coalition” — Middle East Eye
The Joint List’s stance echoes the 1950s–60s refusal of Arab parties (e.g., Mapam, Rakah) to join Israeli governments, viewing coalition as normalization of a state built on their dispossession. The 1977 Land Day protests, where Arab citizens were shot by Israeli forces, and the 2000 Al-Aqsa Intifada’s repression demonstrate how Arab political participation has historically been met with state violence. This pattern suggests that Netanyahu’s far-right allies are not merely political rivals but heirs to a project of Arab exclusion that predates the state itself.
The Joint List’s conditional support for an anti-Netanyahu government is not merely a political maneuver but a systemic critique of a state that has denied Arab citizens equality for 75 years.
Their refusal to join coalitions is a rational rejection of a system designed to exclude them—one where their votes are pivotal to governance but their voices are marginalized in policy. Historical parallels from South Africa and Northern Ireland reveal how conditional support can force reform, but only if paired with structural demands (e.g., ending discriminatory laws, reparations). The framing misses that this is less about ‘backing’ a government than exposing the hypocrisy of a democracy that cannot function without Arab participation but cannot tolerate Arab power. The solution lies in dismantling the mechanisms of exclusion (e.g., Nation-State Law) and replacing them with federalism or non-coalition pacts that grant Arabs substantive agency, not just tactical leverage.