A Joint Arab List meeting on Saturday ended without a decision to recommend Blue and White leader Benny Gantz for prime minister. Faction officials said they would meet again on Sunday in an effort to finalize their decision.
Balad party Chairman Jamal Zahalka, meanwhile, said Saturday night that his anti-Zionist party would oppose recommending Gantz to President Reuven Rivlin, who is responsible for tasking the formation of the next government on the candidate he deems most suitable.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The Joint List comprises four Israeli Arab parties – Hadash, Ta'al, Ra'am and Balad – and won 13 seats in the Knesset election last Tuesday, making it the third-largest party in the country.
Zahalka said his objection to Gantz was due to the Blue and White leader's right-wing views, his willingness to enter a unity government with the Likud party, and his reluctance to commit to annulling the nation-state law and the "Kaminitz Law" against illegal construction.
If the Joint Arab List recommends Gantz unanimously, it would put his center-left bloc at 57 seats compared to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's 55, not counting Yisrael Beytenu's eight seats. Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman, however, has said he will not join a coalition with the Joint Arab List.
Leaders of the Joint Arab List are meeting with @PresidentRuvi at 6:30PM today to discuss their recommendation for Prime Minister.
It is expected that they will recommend @gantzbe.
Our @benitalevin has the story. pic.twitter.com/DLs1pgfB2S— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) September 22, 2019
Joint Arab List Chairman MK Ahmad Tibi said the leaders of the four parties comprising the Joint Arab List will meet on Sunday "for a decisive meeting" before sitting down with the president to discuss the faction's recommendation.
MK Ayman Odeh, who heads the faction, said the Joint Arab List's "historic decision" was still forthcoming and that "Netanyahu's rule cannot be ended without the Arab public."
According to speculation, the faction was still seeking certain commitments from Gantz before declaring its support for him.
No party drawn from the 21% Arab minority has ever been part of an Israeli government. But if Odeh, 44, becomes opposition leader instead of entering a coalition with Gantz, he would receive monthly briefings from the Mossad intelligence agency and meet visiting heads of state, among other perks.
"It is an interesting position, never before held by someone from the Arab population. It has a lot of influence," Odeh told reporters outside his home in Haifa.
But although the Joint List will be the single largest group, other opposition parties combined would have enough seats to block his appointment through an absolute majority vote, analysts said.
"There's no way the other parties will agree to have Ayman Odeh as head of the opposition, and grant our community recognition and legitimacy," said Aida Touma-Sliman, an Arab lawmaker from Odeh's Hadash party.
Parts of this article were originally published by i24NEWS
