Aida Touma-Sliman: 'Maybe Bennett and Lapid Are Complicating an Alliance with Ra'am, Gantz? He Isn't Talking to Us'

MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash-Ta'al) addressed this morning, Thursday, the shrinking chances of forming the Joint List, against the backdrop of disputes with the Ra'am party, which opposes a technical slate and is also demanding agreement on the "day after" the election. She hinted that leaders of the opposition bloc are behind the demands Ra'am is putting forward in the negotiations, and also accused the Arab parties of becoming a "battering tool" used by both the coalition and the opposition.

"It was clear in recent days that there is a serious disagreement in the negotiations over the issue of what will happen after the election," she said in an interview with ynet Studio. According to her, "At first, Ra'am asked that there be a technical slate and everyone agreed. That is, a slate that does not bind how the faction or the slates inside the Joint List will operate after the election, if they want to split up and if they want to go to some coalition."

Touma-Sliman was asked why the parties are unable to reach agreements. "No one is asking anyone to support without it being clear what the content is," she said. According to her, "We want to block the possibility of a right-wing, fascist government like the current one. What will happen after? Who will win the election and what kind of government will be formed, all of this needs to be examined at the same time."

The MK refused to name a candidate from the opposition whom the Joint List would support, as Ra'am demands as a condition for forming the list. "We committed that we would do everything so that this government would not be the government after the election," she said. "You are all asking the candidates on the Jewish side about the possibility of bringing representatives of the Arab public into the government, and no one attacks them for the fact that they know they will not be able to block this government without the Arabs, and they insist."

In the past, did you not want to be members of a government?

"We did not want to be partners on a political basis, our opposition was on the basis of political principles and not on the basis of the national affiliation of whoever forms the government, as they do with us. We measure the principles the government is going to implement, the political program of the government."

Do Bennett or Gantz, who are candidates to lead the bloc, speak with you?

"No, nothing."

Mansour Abbas is in contact with them?

"That has already been said several times. We know they are in contact, and we also know that part of the opposition and part of the conditions that keep appearing along the way, as we get closer to forming the list, there are always new conditions."

Are you saying that the opposition leaders are dictating the conditions to Abbas?

"I don't know whether they are dictating them to him, or whether he sees that his election strategy is connected to the strategy of what is called the Zionist opposition camp. As we progressed in the negotiations and it seemed that we were approaching the formation of a list, another condition and another difficulty kept appearing."

Are you saying that Lapid, Bennett and Gantz are probably behind him?

"It could be, I don't know. The real question is, what is their interest? We need to worry, all the time they attacked the Arab MKs and said, 'You are not serving your public.' Now, when we really want not only to serve the public but to strengthen it, they are working to sabotage that."

Touma-Sliman was also asked about the Arab parties' abstention from voting against the Torah study basic law, which passed yesterday in a preliminary reading in the Knesset. According to opposition sources, 10 Knesset members from the Arab parties were absent from the vote after MK Ahmad Tibi and Mansour Abbas conveyed to them a message saying it would be difficult for them to oppose the law. According to those sources, the Arab MKs were absent because of a "deal" between them and the United Torah Judaism faction, which promised to torpedo the "muezzin law," which was recently approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation. The "muezzin law" seeks to restrict the use of public address systems and loudspeakers in houses of worship, especially mosques, during the night and early morning hours.

Touma-Sliman emphasized in the interview that even if the MKs who were absent had voted against the Torah study basic law, it would still have been approved in the plenum. On the other hand, Otzma Yehudit announced yesterday that it would nonetheless bring the "muezzin law" to a vote next week. "This was not cooperation with the coalition," she argued. "There was a majority with us and without us. And yes, we are very concerned about the 'muezzin law.'"

She was also asked about the remark by Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, who criticized the Likud MKs who opposed the Torah study law and claimed that "the Arabs understand the value of Torah better than they do." According to Touma-Sliman, "I am not responsible for what Deri says. This is not the first time that we become a tool for confrontation by the coalition and also the Zionist opposition. Every time one side wants to attack the other, they use the Arabs."