Senior Ra'am party officials confirmed to Israel Hayom, Thursday, that they had entered into talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party with Shas and United Torah Judaism's mediation.
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Ra'am party officials said that they would not join efforts to oust Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin from the position at this time. Such effort would be aimed at making it more difficult to pass legislation preventing anyone facing an indictment from running for the premiership. Such personal legislation would of course be aimed at preventing Netanyahu from running for office once more.
Senior Joint Arab List officials have denied reports in recent days that Ahmad Tibi's Ta'al party could also follow in Ra'am's footsteps and split from the Joint Arab List. According to the reports, Tibi, who is known to have a good relationship with Abbas, and his fellow party member Osama Saadi would join Ra'am as an independent faction.
Ra'am also denied the reports, saying, "This scenario has no chance of happening in the near future, although we do not rule out any future alliance with those who accept our basic principles."
The Joint Arab List, meanwhile, has imposed an interview ban on its members as it weighs an offer from Yesh Atid party head Yair Lapid to join forces to prevent Netanyahu from forming a government.
"It's unclear what [Sami] Abu Shehadeh, Balad's representative in the [Joint Arab] List, will do. Right now, Hadash has a majority with three MKs, Ta'al has two, and Balad has one," a Joint Arab List official said.
Over at Ra'am, the situation is much simpler.
Nazareth Mayor Ali Salam, who has close ties with Abbas and other senior party officials, told Israel Hayom: "If I know Abbas and the Ra'am heads, their choice will be to go with Bibi [Netanyahu] and the Right that is at the head of the stronger and more united bloc."
Nevertheless, Salam emphasized that "Ra'am will support whoever offers the Arab sector more. We want to and must take part in the political arena for our society."
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