Arab Knesset parties sign deal to revive Joint List

The four Arab-Israeli parties in the Knesset have signed an agreement to re-establish the Joint List ahead of the next set of Israeli elections. The leaders of Hadash, Ra’am, Ta’al, and Balad made the deal on Thursday during a meeting in Sakhnin, per the Times of Israel. They were in the northern Israeli city to attend a general strike called by communal leadership due to a recent crime wave that has beset Arab areas. A spate of gang-related violence in the Negev has set off an epidemic of crime across the country, with 20 Arab citizens murdered since the start of 2026. Nearly all Arab-majority towns across Israel shut down on Thursday in a major strike, inspired by a protest in Sakhnin after criminals attempted to extort local shopkeepers. Footage circulating on social media showed the party leaders cheering after signing a deal, written on a piece of paper bearing the Sakhnin Municipality’s letterhead. The four parties have reportedly been negotiating the deal for some time, but were divided over the nature of the alliance until pressure from the Arab-Israeli community to address the crime wave expedited the announcement. The original Joint List was established in 2015, becoming the third-largest faction in the Knesset before being dissolved in 2019. It was then recreated later that year and increased its seat tally, but ideological disagreements saw it break up once again in 2022. It comes after Ra’am’s leader, Mansour Abbas, announced earlier this month that the party would accept Jewish candidates for the first time in a bid to broaden its appeal to the Israeli public. "Every citizen of the State of Israel – Jewish and Arab – can join Ra’am and be among its Knesset candidates,” he said. "I want to expand the ranks of the party within Jewish society. "There are Jewish Knesset members with whom I see eye to eye, and I would be honoured if they joined Ra’am." The party is the political wing of the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, the Northern Branch of which is proscribed due to alleged ties with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. But the party announced in December that it would disaffiliate from the Southern Branch after Prime Minister Netanyahu implied that it too could be banned. The next set of elections must be completed by October this year, with the latest reports suggesting that the governing coalition is eyeing up some time in May for a prospective polling day.

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