Israel has the votes for change. Does it have the courage? - opinion

The Jewish led “change” bloc, together with the Arab parties Ra’am and the Joint List, holds a 67 seat majority. The math is clear. What is missing currently is the political courage to act on it.

Like millions of Israelis, I voted to replace the government responsible for the horrors of October 7, which has kept our country trapped in endless cycles of war and trauma. The election results gave us a chance to change course, and now our leaders must decide to take it.

Netanyahu’s bloc has fallen from 68 seats in the Knesset to 53, and it no longer has a majority. The Jewish-led “change” bloc, together with the Arab parties Ra’am and the Joint List, holds a 67-seat majority. The math is clear. What is missing currently is the political courage to act on it.

Arab citizens’ votes cannot count on election night and disappear during coalition negotiations. Excluding 19 elected representatives before negotiations even begin is a strategy for keeping Netanyahu and Ben Gvir in power.

We are now at a historic juncture, with an opportunity to embrace a different approach rooted in equality, where all Israeli citizens have not only the right to vote but also the right to participate in shaping their country’s future. We must stop excluding an entire group from political power simply because of their identity.

Joint List chairman Yousef Jabareen has expressed willingness to help replace Netanyahu through parliamentary support, and Ra’am’s Mansour Abbas has already shown that Jewish and Arab parties can govern together. A survey reported by The Jerusalem Post found that 61% of voters for the four main change-bloc parties support an Eisenkot-led government including Ra’am.

Leaders united by shared priorities

Leaders can begin with shared priorities: restoring personal security, fighting organized crime, strengthening democratic institutions, and improving daily life.

Politics is the art of the possible and expanding political imagination. The leaders of the change bloc need to challenge old racist assumptions and, through courage, create true change through Jewish Arab partnership that will save the state of Israel from the abyss that we have been falling into.

Politics is the art of the possible. But what is possible depends on the limits of our political imagination. The leaders of the change bloc must challenge old, racist assumptions and show the courage to build a Jewish–Arab partnership that can pull Israel out of the abyss into which we have been falling and into an equal future for everyone.

Such a partnership would mean more than replacing one government. When Jewish and Arab citizens see their representatives taking responsibility together, they can begin to see one another not as permanent rivals, but as partners in shaping our country’s future. The trust we build within Israel will also help create the conditions for reconciliation with the Palestinians and neighboring countries.

We have voted. Now Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid, Avigdor Liberman, and Yair Golan must sit down with Mansour Abbas and Yousef Jabareen, negotiate common ground, and turn a majority into a government.

The election opened the door to Jewish-Arab partnership. Our leaders must have the courage to walk through it.