MK Ayman Odeh called on Hadash and Arab parties to unite ahead of the next elections, during statements on Tuesday, January 6, at the annual Givat Haviva Conference for a Shared Society. “Let us unite, all of us. Let us bring 17 mandates,” he said. “I am not running in the next election. 2026 is an election year. I call on Ra’am, Ta’al and Balad – let’s all unite with Hadash. We will be certain that we with our own hands will be the factors preventing Netanyahu, Ben Gvir and Smotrich’s government from continuing,” he said. Odeh added that the unity of the parties would be the “decisive factor” that removes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from his position in the next elections, currently scheduled for October 2026.

Hadash MK Ayman Odeh speaks at the annual Givat Haviva Conference for a Shared Society, Tuesday January 6, 2026 (Photo: Al-Ittihad)

“The central struggle is over Israeli democracy, for all citizens, Jews and Arabs alike. This cannot be a sectoral struggle, but rather a struggle to build a true democracy,” he added.

The leaders of Hadash, Ta’al, Ra’am and Balad, began negotiations last August to reestablish the Joint List political alliance ahead of the next elections. The Joint List, once made up by Hadash and the three Arab parties, began to break apart ahead of the 2021 elections after Islamist Ra’am left the alliance. Then, in a dramatic last-minute split in 2022, Balad broke off from the two remaining factions and filed a separate list, leaving it out of the Knesset.

Hadash, Ta’al, Ra’am and Balad – formed a unified ticket for the 2015 elections, receiving 13 seats. After peaking at 15 seats in the 2020 election, the alliance fractured in 2021 and Ra’am joined the Zionist coalition during the Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid government, marking the first time an Arab party was a formal member of a governing coalition in Israel.

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32980