Israel’s two Arab political parties could play a decisive role in determining the country’s next prime minister and government. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to prevent that outcome after accusing Arab polling stations of widespread criminal activity during the election.
Preliminary results projected the two parties to secure a combined 19 Knesset seats. Both Netanyahu’s Likud-led right-wing bloc and opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot’s centrist alliance appeared to fall short of the 61 seats required to form a governing majority.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu alleged on X that Israel’s election had been “stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state.” He cited alleged offenses including bribery, intimidation, violence, forgery and the use of banned software to organize voters.
Voters cast ballots at a polling station during Israel’s legislative election in the Arab town of Taibe in northern Israel on Oct. 27, 2026. (Gil Cohen-Magen/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
“The Likud party is transferring to the police, the Shin Bet and the Central Elections Committee hundreds of testimonies and pieces of evidence regarding election theft in many Arab polling stations,” Netanyahu wrote.
He pointed to claims that thousands of envelopes containing cash and Ra’am ballots were distributed, along with allegations of threats and violence against election workers, multiple ballots cast behind voting curtains, voting under more than one identity, mismatches between ballot envelopes and recorded voters, and the deployment of prohibited voter-mobilization software.
“We demand from the police and the Shin Bet a thorough investigation into the election theft by the Arab parties and the full prosecution of the criminals,” Netanyahu added. “We demand that the Central Elections Committee immediately investigate these criminal offenses, which have seriously harmed the integrity of Israel’s elections and their results.”
A boy sits beside his bicycle near a campaign banner for Netanyahu’s Likud party ahead of Israel’s parliamentary election in Bnei Brak, Israel, on Oct. 25, 2026. (Nir Elias/Reuters)
The Joint List, an Arab political alliance made up of three parties, was projected to win 12 seats with more than 90% of ballots counted. Its members include Hadash, a predominantly Arab-Jewish left-wing party with roots in Israel’s communist movement, as well as the Arab nationalist parties Ta’al and Balad.
The second Arab faction, the United Arab List, or Ra’am, is led by Mansour Abbas and affiliated with the Southern Branch of Israel’s Islamic Movement. It was projected to win seven seats.
Arab citizens account for roughly 21% of Israel’s population. Turnout among Arab voters in this election reached a near-record level, estimated at between 75% and 80%.
“They are a political force to be reckoned with,” Dahlia Scheindlin, a former policy fellow at the Mitvim Institute and senior analyst at Haaretz, told News Outlet.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacts after casting his ballot at a polling station in Jerusalem on Oct. 27, 2026, during the country’s legislative election. (Yonatan Sindel/Pool via Reuters)
Scheindlin said Netanyahu built his campaign around the argument that the opposition intended to form a government reliant on Arab parties. He has warned that such an arrangement could create a path to a Palestinian state that would become a terrorist state and ultimately threaten Israel’s existence.
“This is the most consistent message, and he never stopped saying it, including on election day,” she said.
The issue became politically charged, Scheindlin said, leading major Zionist opposition parties to promise they would not work with Arab factions.
“They have sworn they would not build a coalition that depends on Arab votes, either from inside the coalition or from outside it,” she said. “If they receive any help, they will have to break that promise.”
Scheindlin said it was not impossible, although highly improbable, that Netanyahu could approach one of the Arab parties to discuss cooperation.
People gather near a campaign banner featuring Joint List leaders before Israel’s national election in Nazareth, Israel, on Oct. 10, 2026. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)
Dr. Arik Rudnitzky, a researcher with the Israel Democracy Institute’s Arab Society in Israel Program, said Arab parties have traditionally remained in opposition rather than joining governing coalitions.
YOU MAY ALSO READ: Is America Being Set Up for Socialism in 2028?
During the governments led by Yitzhak Rabin and later Shimon Peres in the 1990s, Arab parties provided outside parliamentary support. That backing helped the government remain in power and serve out its term after it effectively became a minority administration when the ultra-Orthodox Shas party withdrew amid opposition to the Oslo Accords.
“Historically, Arab parties were always in the opposition for many reasons. It was quite uncommon to believe Arab parties could support the government,” Rudnitzky said. “It’s a novelty of recent years, along with the fact that their political strength in terms of seats was not as significant as it is today.”
Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar (“Straight”) party, waves an Israeli flag onstage after the first exit polls were released during Israel’s general election in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (Ariel Schalit/AP Photo)
Rudnitzky said demographic growth alone does not account for the Arab parties’ rising influence. Changes in voting patterns have also been significant.
“In the past, Arab voters supported both Arab and Jewish parties. In the 1980s and 1990s, approximately half voted for Jewish parties,” he said.
Historical developments, the effects of the Oslo Accords and the arrival of new Arab representatives in the Knesset gradually shifted voters away from Jewish parties and toward Arab-led factions, Rudnitzky said.
“Today, we can say that between 85% and 90% of Arab voters support Arab parties. This is the main reason for their increased political strength,” he added.
Any support Arab parties offer a potential coalition would come with demands, Rudnitzky said. Those requests would likely include a government decision and coordinated plan to address crime in Arab communities, along with a new socioeconomic development initiative for the Arab sector backed by budget allocations.
Such agreements would ultimately trade political support for public services and resources, he said. “There is no free lunch in politics. Every collaboration, either within a coalition or from the outside, has its political price.”
Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas speaks during a Knesset plenary session in Jerusalem on July 13, 2026. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)
Scheindlin said the Joint List would neither be invited to join a governing coalition nor seek such an invitation. Mansour Abbas and his United Arab List, however, have pursued a different and more controversial strategy. The party recognizes Israel as a Jewish state and focuses on improving Arab citizens’ lives within that framework, she said.
“They are expecting equality as citizens. They accepted Israel’s identity and are willing to work within that framework to improve the lives of their citizens,” Scheindlin said. “They are the only ones who have a chance of being invited into a coalition, as they were in 2021.”
In September, the Central Elections Committee voted to bar both the Joint List and the United Arab List from running in the Oct. 27 election. Israel’s Supreme Court overturned the decisions against both parties on Oct. 2.
Section 7A of the Basic Law: The Knesset prohibits candidates who reject Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state, incite racism, or support an armed struggle by an enemy state or terrorist organization against Israel from competing in Knesset elections.
Martin Sherman, founder and executive director of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies, told News Outlet that Arab parties in Israel are effectively illegal and should be barred from elections.
A man walks past an election billboard featuring Sami Abu Shehadeh, head of the nationalist Balad party, in Umm al-Fahm, northern Israel, on Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. (Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo.)
“They may have different social agendas, but politically they all oppose Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people,” Sherman said. “One can only hope that Israeli politicians recognize this and that political ambition and hostility toward Netanyahu do not prevail.”
A former Israeli diplomat described the election results as an important rebuttal to those who characterize Israel as an apartheid state. “Arab Israelis voted in huge numbers and, according to the exit polls, won more Knesset seats than ever before,” Shahar Azani, a veteran Israeli diplomat and former spokesperson for Israel’s consulate in New York, told News Outlet.
“Arab citizens are shaping the government and taking part in the Jewish state’s democratic celebration, and we welcome it,” he added. “But with great power comes great responsibility: they must now take the next step and reject the extremist positions some voiced immediately after the results, positions that could alienate them from Israel’s Jewish majority.”
