Thousands gather in Israel to urge ‘Judeo-Arab’ coalition to oust Netanyahu | Benjamin Netanyahu News

In a counter-protest, Netanyahu supporters demand that Israel not have a government with “terrorists.”

Thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv to urge the Israeli opposition to reach a deal with Arab parties to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Protesters at Saturday’s rally told the AFP news agency that it may be “the last chance for real change” and that Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, is a “great manipulator.”

Main opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot has previously ruled out forming a coalition with Israeli Arab parties, but the impasse in Tuesday’s election means siding with the parties could help him form a government.

“People really want this vote for change to succeed, and they think… Gadi Eisenkot and other leaders of Israeli Jewish parties need to listen to their voices,” Al Jazeera correspondent Nour Odeh said from Ramallah on Saturday.

Counter-protesters also turned out for Saturday’s demonstrations, with Netanyahu supporters shouting their own demands that “Israel should not have a government with so-called terrorists,” Odeh said.

Netanyahu’s bloc won 53 seats in Tuesday’s election, while Eisenkot’s bloc won 48, meaning neither side can form a government in Israel’s 120-seat parliament alone.

Israel’s three Arab-led parties won 19 seats, after making significant gains in Tuesday’s elections.

Nearly 840,000 people voted for Raam and the Joint List, a coalition of three Arab-led parties, an increase of 64% compared to the last elections in 2022, according to the Central Election Commission.

Arab electoral success means a coalition with Eisenkot would provide a comfortable majority of 67 votes. However, for many in Israel, the idea of ​​siding with the Arabs is politically unpalatable.

Netanyahu accused Palestinian-Israeli parties of “stealing” the elections and accepting funding from Qatar to do so. Qatar has rejected the allegations, calling them a disinformation campaign.

Odeh said Israeli right-wing circles have described “the historic participation of Israeli Palestinians as electoral terrorism, likening it to the October 7 attack,” when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking hundreds of prisoners.

“Palestinian-Israeli votes and votes” are under attack because they hold a “leading position” in deciding whether Eisenkot can form a government, she added.