Governance & Electoral System
Governing with the Arab parties
A government should be able to rely on the Arab parties for its majority.
August 2026 polls put the anti-Netanyahu bloc at around 60 of 120 seats without the Arab parties. Bennett, Lapid and Eisenkot have all ruled out relying on them.
What is at stake
Arab-majority parties have sat in the Knesset since 1949 and represent about a fifth of citizens. Only one government has ever leaned on them: the 2021 Bennett–Lapid coalition, with Ra'am. In August 2026 polls put the anti-Netanyahu bloc at around 60 of 120 seats without them.
The case for
- A fifth of citizens vote for these parties. Ruling them out in advance decides that their vote counts for less.
- Ra'am joined the government in 2021 and won budgets for its voters without bringing the state down.
- The arithmetic is simple: without them the anti-Netanyahu bloc has no 61 seats, and nothing changes.
The case against
- Hadash-Ta'al rejects Israel as a Jewish state. A government cannot depend on parties that contest its foundations.
- On the war, Gaza and the army these parties sit opposite the rest of the Knesset. The government would seize up.
- The 2021 coalition collapsed within a year, and that precedent is what Bennett, Lapid and Eisenkot cite today.
Both sides get the same number of points at comparable length. That is a rule of this site, not a coincidence.
What the next Knesset could decide
No law bars an Arab party from a coalition; the parties themselves commit either way. The president gives the mandate to whoever can gather 61 recommendations, and those can come from any elected list.