Nerve-wrenching minutes passed for the members of the joint list towards 10:00 pm yesterday – the final date for submitting the lists. A few hours before, they were sure they were running together. Hadash, Ta’al and Balad signed a joint running agreement, outlined the political plan, and shook hands. At 19:00 – everything exploded. We will return to the drama of the last moments.
The crisis in the joint venture began when Balad, the separatist party of the list, demanded from its partners to announce from now on that they do not intend to recommend any candidate for the formation of the government. The excuse was that Lapid proved in the “Dawn” operation that he is no different from any other right-wing leader – and is ready to attack in Gaza in order to consolidate the position His. Hadash and Tal were outraged. A senior official in the party said at the time: “This is political suicide. Why declare that you are irrelevant in the political game?”.
After weeks of negotiations – the dispute was resolved in a bizarre way: in the political agreement it was written that the joint list would recommend to the Prime Minister a candidate who would commit to several moves. In the section after that it was written “Since there is no such candidate – the list will not recommend any candidate.” A boy in the second grade who was reading He would chuckle at this agreement because of the contrast in it. “This business is going to explode. You can’t hold the stick at both ends,” an official who participated in the drafting of the agreement told me.
After the bang: these are the lists of candidates for the 25th Knesset elections
We will jump to 19:00 on the evening of submitting the lists. Balad came to the understanding that Ta’al and Hadash were trying to carry out a coup, and to change the rotation agreement on the sixth place, which was promised to the three parties – each party was supposed to receive it for a third term. Balad demanded at the last minute to receive the sixth place and the leadership of the faction in rotation With Tibi – and Sorba.
Behind the scenes, a major disagreement emerged within Balad’s leadership. The reason – Lapid. Balad’s hawkish elements demanded commitments that the joint venture would not recommend, Tibi and Odah refused. Towards 22:00 there was a one-on-one meeting between Odeh and Abu Shahada in Odeh’s room. The window of Odeh’s room remains slightly open, and she can see and hear the drama. Odeh was angry, disappointed and spoke in high tones. “You are not able to bring order to your party,” he said to Abu Shahada. Odeh asked him to convince his party to put aside the dispute regarding Lapid – Abu Shahada was not successful.
Balad Chairman Sami Abu Shahada news here: “We are running alone and that’s final” @shemeshmicha pic.twitter.com/UCCh89XDau
— here news (@kann_news) September 15, 2022
The accusing finger was pointed at the former chairman of Balad, Amtans Shahada, who is accused of breaking up the partnership. “He blew up the agreements – and Sami Abu Shahada folded,” said a senior official in the joint venture. In a last-minute desperate attempt, the chairman of the Supreme Monitoring Committee of the Israeli-Arabs, Mohammad Bracha, tried to keep the company together. He called its three heads, and agreed on something with each of them. Balad were sure that they agreed to something that both Ta’al and Hadd “They agreed to him, and they informed him that the partner had reached an understanding to run together. Later, all the members of the cooperative sat together and realized that this was not the case, and that’s where the decision was made – an ugly divorce.
Hadash and Tal said that this division is bad for Arab society. I wouldn’t sign it. Tibi and Oda can in the future hold negotiations with Lapid, recommend him to the Prime Ministership and maybe help him form a government. A slight chance, but it exists. “Arab society would not forgive us if a Netanyahu and Ben government was formed because of us,” a senior member of the joint list told me. I asked The same with Balad, after all, she will burn votes for the bloc. He answered: “BLD will eventually realize that it is not passing, and will withdraw from the race for the elections.” Regarding the recommendation for Lapid, he claimed: “It is a possible scenario, now it will be easier for us to recommend Lapid, but he has to meet our demands.”
Channel survey from Mekhi: two thirds of the Arabs in Israel support the entry of Arab parties into the coalition @yaara_shapira With all the data https://t.co/eZsfpYMWgZ#The evening news pic.twitter.com/S7RzXas6MQ
— here news (@kann_news) September 5, 2022
With the dissolution of the joint list, the center-left bloc looks more messed up than ever. Hadash and Tal are running separately from Balad, Meretz and Labor have not united, and it seems that there is no responsible adult to put order in the mess. On the other hand, within this risk lies a golden opportunity for Lapid. If they all pass, Lapid is expected to be the next prime minister. If one falls, Netanyahu will finally get what he wants, and will reach 61 mandates, at least.