Palestinian citizens of Israel turned out in record numbers in October’s election, helping strip Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition of its majority and lifting Arab-led parties to 19 of 120 Knesset seats — a pivotal role in talks over who governs next.

According to the Central Elections Committee, votes for Arab-led parties rose by about 64% from the previous election. Ra’am won 8 seats and the Joint List 11. Together, those 19 mandates give them leverage they have rarely held in Israeli politics.

“We blocked the government of Netanyahu from continuing. It’s a historical achievement,” said Jamal Zahalka, chairman of the High Follow-Up Committee, the main coordinating body for the Arab community. Arabs make up about a fifth of Israel’s population, but turnout has often been low.

Arab parties are split on how to use that power. Ra’am, a socially conservative Islamist party, campaigned on joining a governing coalition and placed a Jewish former police official second on its list. The Joint List, which holds 11 of the 19 seats, has said it could back a government from outside but will not join it, citing the war in Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank.

Neither Netanyahu’s bloc (53 seats) nor Gadi Eisenkot’s centre-right opposition (48) reached the 61-seat threshold. Eisenkot has ruled out a formal partnership with Arab parties even though they recommended him to President Isaac Herzog. Without them, the path to a majority remains narrow.

The Arab gains have stirred anger and fear on Israel’s political right, where some cast them as a threat to the country’s Jewish character. At the same time, traditional absenteeism in Arab communities fell after years of tension following the 2023 Hamas attack and Netanyahu-era policies.

Herzog is due to announce whom he will task with forming a coalition. That candidate gets 28 days, with a possible two-week extension; failure leads to a second nominee and, ultimately, the risk of a fresh election.

Image: consultations with the United Arab List at Beit HaNassi (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0).

Sources consulted: Israel's Arab-led parties in spotlight after inconclusive election — NPR.