President Reuven Rivlin began consultations on Sunday, March 22, with the Likud and other parties to determine who he should appoint to form the next government. More than 61 MKs in the 120-seat Knesset are expected to recommend that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu form the next coalition. Rivlin on Sunday criticized Netanyahu’s remarks on Election Day about Arab voters going out to vote in “droves,” saying that great care must be exercised with all such remarks. In his meeting with representatives of the Joint List, Rivlin said, “Everyone must be careful with their remarks, particularly those who are heard around the world.”
The representatives of the Joint List following their meeting with President Rivlin, March 22, 2015. (Photo: Channel 2 Television)
Joint List chairman Ayman Odeh told Rivlin he does not recommend that Netanyahu form the next government. The list expressed strong opposition to any coalition formed by Netanyahu, claiming that a government under his leadership will only continue the occupation and oppression against Palestinians. “Netanyahu’s behavior makes his tenure as prime minister illegitimate and stands in sharp contrast to what the President himself said, when he called for all citizens to come out and vote,” the delegation said.
The prime minister cannot be someone who chooses election tactics that incite against an entire population and challenge the basic rights of their citizenship,” Odeh argued. “He chooses to base his leadership on intimidation, despair, and incitement against citizens of the very country for which he claims to stand as leader.” Odeh added: “Facing the next Knesset we understand that we will have a persistent struggle against racist legislation, a deepening of the occupation and the settlements, and an increase of social gaps.” The Joint Arab list will file a complaint on Monday, March 23, with Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his remarks on Election Day. Odeh of Hadash, who heads the Joint List, said that his bloc was not interested in receiving a portfolio for national security, the foreign ministry, or immigrant absorption, but rather in defending the national identity and the rights of the Arab population. He promised that the Arabs will be a powerful force in the 20th Knesset.
“We come here today with great pride in the fact that the Arab community placed its confidence in us and accepted its democratic responsibility,” Odeh said, underscoring that this election marked the largest Arab voter turnout since 1999. Members of the delegation were warm in their praise of Rivlin’s conciliatory attitude towards the Arab communities in Israel, but were sharply critical of statements made by Netanyahu, Yisrael Beyteynu leader Avigdor Liberman, HaBayit HaYehudi leader Naftali Bennett, and Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon who, they said, had declared that he would not sit in any coalition with them.
