In what has been called a "historic" decision by some on the Left, the Joint Arab List announced on Sunday that it was officially endorsing Blue and White leader Benny Gantz as the next prime minister, all but securing him a presidential mandate to form a government.
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Writing for The New York Times, the Chairman of the Joint Arab List MK Ayman Odeh said the Arab parties were supporting Gantz because "the Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel have chosen to reject Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his politics of fear and hate, the inequality and division he advanced for the past decade." He further said that they were "ending Netanyahu's grip on Israel."
MK Ahmad Tibi, who is also in the Joint Arab List, further tweeted: "Today we are making history, we are going to do everything it takes to bring down Netanyahu."
Under Israeli law, following an election, the Israeli president must give the MK with the most support in parliament a chance to form a government. Since neither bloc won a decisive victory last week, it was not clear until Sunday who would get more recommendations.
But with Yisrael Beytenu refusing to recommend anyone, the Arab parties' support for Gantz could imply that they would vote with him during confidence votes, thus allowing him to swear in a government and to stay in power.
Arab parties have never officially joined an Israeli government, but they have occasionally struck unofficial agreements with the Left to help it win and retain power.
