Hadash and two Arab parties, Ta’al and Ra’am, announced on Saturday, July 27, that they are reforming the Joint List in a bid to increase turnout among Arabs voters in Israel’s September election. The three parties said they would be running together and that they await the decision of Balad in the next few days whether it will also participate in the union.
Joint List candidates at the end of the press conference held in Nazareth on Saturday, July 27; second from right, Joint List leader, MK Ayman Odeh (Photo: Al-Ittihad)
Speaking at a press conference, Hadash MK and the leader of the new Joint List, Ayman Odeh, said the alliance is imperative. “These elections are a second chance for us to reunite in the face of hatred… in the face of racism, in the face of incitement,” he said. “We are back, united and strong.” He said the new Joint List would seek to bring down the far-right and racist government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We have vowed to bring down Netanyahu’s government and revoke the Nation-State Law … prevent discrimination, plans of annexation and the destruction of the democratic space,” Odeh told a news conference in the northern city of Nazareth, adding that the Joint List would also work to reject the Trump administration’s imperialist “Deal of the Century.” “Only a strong Joint List will be able to topple the right-wing government,” said Odeh. “Only if we are united can we effectively struggle against racism, annexation and the destruction of democracy.”
“The fight against the right-wing, settler, racist and corrupt government requires a strong and large Joint List in the Knesset,” Hadash MK Youssef Jabareen said. “Today we began our journey towards the success of our struggle in the upcoming election.”
The Joint List picked up 13 seats in the 2015 elections following its formation, making it the third largest faction in the Knesset. However, the union split ahead of elections in April into two separate lists, Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am-Balad, which lost about 25% of its parliamentary representation, winning a total of 10 seats between them.
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