Odeh: Lapid Rejected Balancing Support from Joint List Partners in the Previous Government

Outgoing Hadash-Ta'al chairman MK Ayman Odeh said today, in an interview on Radio Nase, that Yair Lapid rejected a safety net from Hadash and Ta'al in the previous government.

According to MK Odeh, before the fall of the “change government”, the previous Bennett-Lapid government, Ta'al chairman Ahmad Tibi approached Lapid and offered him a safety net that would have allowed the Bennett-Lapid government to continue. Odeh said Lapid turned down the offer and told Tibi that Naftali Bennett would not agree to rely on supporters of terrorism.

Odeh’s remarks come against the backdrop of contacts between the Arab parties over the re-establishment of the Joint List. Just yesterday, we first reported on a meeting of the leaders of the Arab lists, after which Hadash announced “advanced contacts” to form a joint list without Ra'am. After Hadash concluded that Abbas was dragging out the process, it decided to advance the talks without him.

It should be recalled that during the Bennett-Lapid government, Ra'am was part of the coalition, but since October 7, the various parties have declared that they will not form a government or rely on the Arab parties as the 61st vote needed to establish the next government. However, MK Walid Alhwashla of Ra'am said during the night, in a debate on the Police Internal Investigations Department bill that was approved early this morning in the Knesset: “I hope the Arab public in the next election will go out and vote and give us the power to influence the next government. We are saying this openly. We want to influence in order to achieve results and stop the racist celebration toward the Arab public.”