Avigdor Liberman, leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, has issued a categorical statement that could reshape coalition-building scenarios following Israel's next election, declaring he will not join any government that includes Arab parties.
Speaking at a community gathering in Tzorit, a town in the Galilee region of northern Israel, Liberman addressed the possibility of future political cooperation with Arab-majority parties. He singled out Ra'am, the United Arab List party led by Mansour Abbas, for particularly sharp criticism. "After October 7, the members of Knesset from Ra'am spoke like spokespeople for Hamas," Liberman said. "We will not sit with them in a government."
The statement carries significant implications for Israel's fractured political landscape. According to recent polling, opposition parties seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannot reach the 61-seat threshold needed to form a government without either including Arab parties in their coalition or relying on their external support in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Liberman's red line effectively closes off one potential path to what Israeli media has termed a "change government" - a coalition uniting parties across the political spectrum solely to remove Netanyahu from power, similar to the government formed in 2021 that included Ra'am for the first time in Israeli history.
By categorically ruling out sitting with Abbas's party, Liberman has complicated coalition arithmetic for opposition leaders hoping to assemble an alternative government.
