By Baruch Yedid/TPS • 22 September, 2019
The Joint Arab List, with its 13 mandates, will be a key factor in Benny Gantz’s ability to form a coalition, and it appears they will lend him their support.
President Reuven Rivlin will begin consultations with all parties elected to the 22nd Knesset and hear who they will recommend forming the next government.
The List, which is comprised of three factions, will vote on Sunday whether they will recommend that Blue and White and Gantz from a government.
A senior source within the party told TPS that the factions will hold a democratic vote on whom they will recommend to the president on Sunday.
The senior member said that unlike in 2015, this time the decision on the recommendation to the president will be made by a democratic majority.
However, a senior Israeli Arab leader told TPS that the vote is merely a “protocol rule” as the decision has already been made and the List will recommend that Gantz form the next government.
He said that the conditions are clear and the Joint List expects the repeal of the State-Nation Law, the resumption of the diplomatic process and the fulfillment of demands concerning the Arab sector.
He added that the “rules of the game” were agreed upon between the factions during the election campaign and that Blue and White’s officials were not alarmed by the terms that the Joint List presented.
Former Joint List member Jamal Zahalka said that the Balad faction opposes supporting Gantz because of “his right-wing positions, because he wants a unity government with the Likud, and because he is not prepared to commit to the repeal the State-Nation Law and the Kaminitz Law” which hinders illegal Arab construction.