Ra'am chairman Mansour Abbas expressed confidence in his ability to forge coalition agreements with three major opposition leaders, even as those same figures have publicly distanced themselves from cooperation with his Arab-majority Islamist party.
Abbas told press ahead of a faction meeting that Naftali Bennett, Gadi Eisenkot, and Avigdor Liberman are "all worthy and have the experience to lead the next government," though he stopped short of endorsing any specific candidate. "I worked with the leaders of the opposition parties. They are responsible and statesmanlike and know how to work together," Abbas said, adding that "in the end, we will reach agreements."
The Coalition Mathematics
Abbas's optimism stands in stark contrast to the public positions of the three opposition figures. Bennett and Liberman have both ruled out sitting with Ra'am, while Eisenkot has similarly indicated the faction does not represent a viable coalition partner. Yet polling data presents a more complicated picture: the Zionist opposition bloc—comprising Bennett's faction, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid's Together slate, Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu, and Eisenkot's Yashar party—would likely struggle to form a governing coalition without Ra'am's participation.
This dynamic underscores a fundamental tension in Israeli coalition politics: the mathematical necessity of including parties that political leaders prefer to exclude, a challenge that has long complicated government formation in the fractured Israeli parliament.
The 2021 Precedent
Abbas pointed to Ra'am's entry into the Bennett-Lapid government in 2021 as evidence of what is possible. That coalition marked the first time in decades that an Arab-majority party joined a governing coalition, a move Abbas characterized as "a model that can be developed, improved, and upgraded."
His willingness to serve in government stands in contrast to broader efforts to unite the Arab political bloc. Ra'am, alongside the communist-majority Hadash, secularist Ta'al, and nationalist Balad, signed an agreement in January to explore running together as a unified slate. Abbas acknowledged, however, that negotiations are continuing but that "a variety of issues on which we have no agreement" remain unresolved. More than four months after the January agreement, little tangible progress has materialized.
The Core Disagreement
The central sticking point reflects Abbas's strategic calculation: he insists that any joint Arab slate function only as a technical alliance that would dissolve after the election, preserving Ra'am's independence to join future coalitions with Zionist parties.
"We want to bring practical solutions to Arab citizens, and therefore we cannot commit to a policy of excluding ourselves from [sitting with] Zionist parties," Abbas stated. This position prioritizes Ra'am's ability to influence policy outcomes over ideological alignment with other Arab parties—a pragmatic approach that has proven effective in securing ministerial positions and resources for his constituency.
The Abbas strategy reflects a broader principle in Israeli politics: that access to government power and the ability to deliver tangible benefits to constituents often outweighs symbolic gestures of political solidarity. Whether opposition leaders will ultimately accept this calculus remains uncertain, but the mathematics of coalition formation may ultimately prove decisive.
Why This Matters:
The tension between stated political positions and electoral mathematics reveals how governance actually functions in a multiparty system. Abbas's confidence in eventual coalition agreements reflects his understanding that opposition leaders, regardless of their public rhetoric, may find cooperation necessary to form a government. For taxpayers and citizens concerned with effective governance, the ability to form stable coalitions—even ones that include ideologically disparate partners—matters significantly. The precedent of Ra'am's 2021 participation suggests that pragmatic coalition-building, focused on delivering policy outcomes rather than maintaining rigid political lines, can produce functional governments. Conversely, the four-month stalemate in Arab party negotiations demonstrates the costs of prioritizing bloc solidarity over individual party interests. How these dynamics resolve will shape both the composition of Israel's next government and the framework for future coalition negotiations.