Thousands rally in Israel for Jewish-Arab coalition to replace Netanyahu

Thousands of people rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday, urging Israel’s opposition parties to form a coalition with Arab parties to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power following the inconclusive general election.

Protesters at the rally called on opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot and other leaders of Jewish-Israeli parties to listen to demands for political change. Some described the election as a possible “last chance for real change” and accused Netanyahu of manipulating the political system.

The demonstration also drew counterprotesters supporting Netanyahu, who opposed the prospect of a coalition with Arab parties. They raised slogans against forming a government with what they called “terrorists”.

Eisenkot has previously ruled out forming a coalition with Israel’s Arab parties. However, the election results have left both major political blocs short of the numbers needed to form a government on their own.

Netanyahu’s bloc won 53 seats in the 120-member parliament, while Eisenkot’s bloc secured 48. The three Arab-led parties won a combined 19 seats, potentially giving an alliance with Eisenkot a majority of 67.

According to the Central Election Committee, nearly 840,000 people voted for Ra’am and the Joint List, a coalition of three Arab-led parties. This represented a 64 per cent increase from the 2022 elections.

The strong performance of Arab parties has made their support significant in the negotiations over government formation, although an alliance remains politically contentious in Israel.

Netanyahu has accused Palestinian-Israeli parties of “stealing” the election and receiving funding from Qatar. Qatar has rejected the allegations, describing them as a disinformation campaign.

Al Jazeera correspondent Nour Odeh said right-wing circles in Israel had described the high turnout among Palestinian citizens as “electoral terrorism”, drawing comparisons with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.