If the two prime ministers, the current and the designate, don't decide otherwise, another election looks like a realistic prospect, and they could come at a challenging moment for Arab society and politics. Even though the polls are looking good, the Joint Arab List will have to work a lot harder than it has in the past. It will have to seek the public's trust once again, but this time the public will be demanding explanations. First of all, the party will have to explain what is seen as a major mistake – in the end, it made Netanyahu prime minister. There was also huge controversy in the Arab sector over a law banning "conversion therapy" for LGBTQ individuals, and Arab MKs who supported it or opposed it or abstained from the vote were damaged in public opinion.
All this, along with the large discrepancies in the Arab MKs' views, have affected the voters' trust in them, and there are already murmurings about a lack of desire to vote at all, let alone for the Joint Arab List, some of whose members are accused of turning their backs on the interests of the Arab sector. Despite what we see in the polls, the list isn't doing all that well. The fact that the party is not in its essence any kind of coalition, and not fully an opposition has led it to a sort of political impasse. On one hand, Arab voters want their representatives to be part of the political game, in the Knesset and maybe even the cabinet, but on the other – which is how the members of the list behave today – it doesn't look like they are ready for that, and it doesn't look as if the leaders of the Zionist parties will dare to make such a bold, challenging move.
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It's time for a game-changer, and for a political alternative for Arab society. That is a move that would require resources and support, but if there is a new party infrastructure that would satisfy the Arab sector's desire for new public figures, it could scoop up tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of voters.
The establishment of a new political entity with a base among the young generation of Arabs, who aren't afraid to say they want to integrate or be part of the country, could lead to a big bank and bust up conventions. Such a party would espouse the interests and needs of the Arab sector, which is at a critical step of increased integration into social, economic, and cultural life in Israel. It would start with breaking a taboo – it would have to accept and recognize the Zionist parties, which would in turn see the new Arab party as a natural coalition partner, like any other party that can agree or disagree with some of the government's positions. This doesn't mean that the party would have to be a satellite, like the Arab parties of the 1960s and 70s that were linked to the Labor movement. It would just have to be pragmatic.
A new Arab party, which might win five seats, can change the entire political map in Israel and lead to a relatively stable coalition, and more importantly: to a historic change that would bring in a party that is proud of both its Arab identity and Israeli citizenship.
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