ABNA24 - Thousands of people took to the streets in Tel Aviv and several other cities to protest Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to including Arab parties in the next cabinet. They called for an end to his premiership.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that protesters gathered in central Tel Aviv and several other cities, urging opposition parties to work with Arab political factions to form a new Israeli cabinet.
The demonstrators believe that the votes of Arab citizens should carry the same weight in the regime’s political calculations as those of Jewish citizens, and that Arab parties should also have a role in determining the makeup of the next cabinet.
The protests come after the results of the October 27 Israeli parliamentary election failed to give either of the two main political blocs the majority needed to form a cabinet.
According to the election results, parties aligned with Benjamin Netanyahu won a total of 53 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. His opponents secured 48 seats, while the two Arab political factions won a combined 19 seats.
With 19 seats, Arab parties have therefore emerged as key players in negotiations to form the next cabinet. Their cooperation with Netanyahu’s opponents could pave the way for a government without the incumbent prime minister.
Netanyahu, however, has opposed such cooperation. He recently claimed that forming a cabinet with the participation of Mansour Abbas, head of the United Arab List, and Ahmad Tibi, head of the Arab Movement for Change, would be disastrous for Israel.
The remarks come as Netanyahu’s opponents view his opposition to including Arab parties as an obstacle to forming an alternative cabinet. They argue that continued disagreements and prolonged coalition negotiations could help the incumbent prime minister remain in power.
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