Politics & Diplomacy
Haaretz analysis says Segalovitz joining Ra'am could remake Israel's election
Graphic: Times of Palestine
Original Reporting
A merger between former senior police commander Yoav Segalovitz and the Ra'am party of Mansour Abbas carries the potential to shift Israel's coming election and ease the party's path into the next government, the political scientist Doron Navot argued Thursday in Haaretz.
Such a partnership, Navot wrote, would cement Ra'am's separation from the Islamic Movement in the eyes of Jewish voters and grant added legitimacy to a party under constant attack from Netanyahu and the far right — legitimacy that alone would make the merger transformative.
Because violent crime is the most urgent issue facing Palestinian citizens of Israel, he argued, placing a veteran crime-fighter at Ra'am's side could put the issue at the center of the campaign and lift Arab turnout sharply, toward pragmatic parties offering solutions.
Navot framed the deeper stakes as a contest between two schools: the identity discourse founded by Azmi Bishara in the 1990s, and the discourse of responsible partnership Mansour Abbas has led since 2020, which foregrounds results and the Israeli dimension of Palestinian citizens' identity.
The Palestinian stake is direct: Ra'am's seats sit at the heart of the kingmaker arithmetic of the 27 October vote, and both blocs need the Arab parties they spent years delegitimizing. Navot closed by hoping neither side retreats before the deal is done.
