MK Eli Avidar, who recently left the Yisrael Beytenu party and formed the Free Israel party, believes that the left-wing bloc will not be able to form a government without the Arab parties.
In an interview with the Israeli Arab Hala TV and the Panet website, Avidar said that he "believes that cooperation with the Arab parties in the Knesset should be increased", emphasizing that "not only with Ra'am, but also the Joint List."
Asked about his political past in the Yisrael Beytenu party, which supported population transfers for Arabs, Avidar said, "From the first day I entered the Knesset, my policy was very clear. I am in favor of peace, in favor of the peace process, in favor of bringing all Arabic-speaking residents of the State of Israel closer."
"I have believed from day one that a partnership should be created and this is also politically correct. The political system is structured in such a way that the haredi parties demonstrably chose to go with the right, and therefore a government cannot be formed on the other side without the involvement of Arab parties," Avidar continued.
In this regard, Avidar added, "I thought that the government of change should also have included the Joint List. Unfortunately, my friends in the Joint List thought they did not want to be a part of it...the entire Joint List did not want to be a part of it. In my opinion, it was a mistake because it was a historic government."
"I think that if we don't rely on the Joint List, there won't be a stable coalition," Avidar stressed.
Avidar called MK Mansour Abbas, head of the Ra’am Party, "a super brave politician", noting that he "really appreciates him".
On the motive behind his initiative to establish a technical bloc between his party and Ra’am in the upcoming elections, Avidar said, "If the voter turnout in the Arab sector increases, this will certainly affect what kind of government there will be. That's why I thought that in such a possible situation, there could be a possibility that my party and the Ra’am Party, for example, could run together in a joint bloc. It's still early. All these things will only be agreed upon in mid-September."
Avidar blasted opposition chairman and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "There was Operation Guardian of the Walls. Netanyahu incited and divided between Jews and Arabs," Avidar said and added, "Netanyahu turned the word ‘Arab’ into a curse."
"Racism must not be allowed to win. Those people who want to turn the word ‘Arab’ into a curse must not be allowed to win. They must not be allowed to cause people to say that it is impossible to include an Arab party in the coalition."
In response to the question of why Netanyahu is still strong and popular, Avidar said, "It's our mistake, not his. It's not his success, it's our mistake as well as that of the government of change. It is inconceivable that he's in the opposition and we're not succeeding in getting stronger. We need to work much more aggressively and we're much more gentle with him and we let him do whatever he does and no one responds to him. He calls Ra’am a terrorist supporter and no one responds to him."
In this context, Avidar added, "We must not let extreme right-wing racists rule the country. We must not cause a split within Israeli society... Itamar Ben Gvir has become a consensus. It does not make sense... There are people in the Likud who are even more extreme than he is. They have become a consensus."
In a message in Arabic to the Arab public, Avidar said, "The Arab residents, if they vote to get revenge on the Arab parties, they will get revenge on themselves, they will not get revenge on someone else. If they do not vote in the next elections, they will take revenge on themselves for their situation. They will not take revenge on the Arab politicians. If they do not vote we will all cry together. The extremists will seize power and we will see Itamar Ben Gvir as the Minister of Police, we will see (Bezalel) Smotrich as the Minister of Justice and we will see Netanyahu as the Prime Minister.”