Ahmad Tibi Urges Gadi Eisenkot to Form Minority Government With Arab Parties

The election has left Israel’s opposition with a choice that Ahmad Tibi says it can no longer avoid: seek support from Palestinian parties or risk leaving Benjamin Netanyahu in power. Tibi, a Palestinian lawmaker and leader of the Ta’al party, urged opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot to form a minority government with Arab parties’ backing, calling for the “courage of [former prime minister] Yitzhak Rabin”.

Palestinian parties hold the numbers to shape what comes next. The Joint List, which includes Tibi’s Ta’al alongside Hadash and Balad, won 11 seats. Ra’am, another Palestinian party, took eight. Together, the two slates have 19 seats, a record for Palestinian parties in the Knesset. Neither a Netanyahu-led nor an Eisenkot-led bloc can reach the 61 seats needed for a majority without their support.

Israeli voters elect 120 members of the Knesset, so a government can take office without controlling 61 seats if it can rely on outside support. Tibi’s proposal is for Palestinian parties to provide that support without joining the cabinet, helping an Eisenkot-led government survive parliamentary votes. He said the Joint List was prepared to back anyone willing to remove Netanyahu and make way for an alternative.

A parliamentary opening—and a test for the opposition

“I hope Eisenkot will be courageous enough to go forward and form a minority government, which will end this government of Netanyahu immediately,” Tibi told Middle East Eye in an interview on Friday. He pointed to Rabin’s minority government in 1993, which had 56 seats and relied on Palestinian-led parties for parliamentary support while advancing the Oslo Accords.

For Tibi, the precedent is a practical answer to claims that cooperation with Palestinian representatives is out of bounds. He said there was no democratic justification for excluding them from government-making. “We prefer a new government by Eisenkot, as a minority government, and we are ready to help,” he said.

“We prefer a new government by Eisenkot, as a minority government, and we are ready to help”

- Ahmad Tibi, Palestinian lawmaker

The alternative Tibi rejects is a national unity government. Such a deal could bring Likud, the largest party in parliament, together with opposition parties to form a majority, while leaving far-right figures Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir out. Tibi argued that a unity arrangement would preserve Netanyahu’s approach under different political leadership, with one side continuing the policy and another helping present it more favourably to Western governments.

“We don't like a unity government, because one side will continue his brutal policy and the second will help him market this policy,” he said. His argument is that the election’s arithmetic has made Palestinian parties central to the opposition’s options; declining to work with them would mean choosing a broader deal that, in his view, keeps the same policies in place.

Turnout gives Palestinian parties added weight

Tibi credited high participation by Palestinian citizens of Israel with preventing Netanyahu from securing another majority. Netanyahu’s bloc won 64 seats in 2022. In Tuesday’s election, it won 53. Tibi described the Palestinian vote as decisive and said turnout was a response to racism and incitement, as well as a way for voters to defend their political standing.

Palestinian citizens of Israel number around two million, roughly one-fifth of the population. Their families descend from the Arab population of historic Palestine; many remained within the territory that became Israel after the 1948 mass expulsion of Palestinians. Tibi praised people who made it to polling stations despite age, illness or difficulty moving, describing their participation as a historic achievement.

For Tibi, the immediate task is turning that participation into political influence: replacing Netanyahu’s government and improving the status of Palestinian citizens. He also dismissed allegations that Qatar financed efforts to raise Palestinian turnout, calling the claims politically motivated and predicting they would soon fade without affecting the results. “Two, three, four, five days, everything will be relieved. It will be a minor issue; it will have zero effect on the results and on the process,” he said.

He accused Netanyahu of using the allegations to intimidate Palestinian voters and discourage Eisenkot from cooperating with Arab parties. Tibi also rejected attempts to question the legitimacy of the Arab vote, countering with allegations of foreign financing around the prime minister’s own office. “The only corrupted party here is the prime minister and the prime minister's office,” he said.

Who are the Palestinian citizens of Israel?

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Speaker dispute adds another test

Tibi also called on opposition parties to replace Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, a Likud lawmaker. He accused Ohana of making parliament hostile to Palestinian lawmakers and turning it into what he called a racist institution. Tibi urged the opposition to nominate a successor, saying Palestinian representatives would support its candidate.

“The best practical step should be removing Amir Ohana, the speaker of the parliament, and voting for the candidate of the opposition. It should be done, no hesitation,” he said. Tibi said the opposition’s 67 seats, counting the Palestinian parties, amounted to a democratic majority.

The speaker vote and the government negotiations point to the same question: whether opposition parties will treat Palestinian citizens’ representation as a legitimate part of parliamentary politics. Tibi argues that citizens who make up about 20 percent of the population have a right to help determine who governs. With neither major bloc able to reach a majority without Palestinian parties, Eisenkot’s response will show whether the election’s new balance can produce a working government.