Palestinian citizens of Israel face intimidation after election success
After winning a record number of parliament seats, Palestinian-led parties face campaign against them.
Israel has officially certified its election results – delivering a blow to right-wing claims of a stolen vote – but the record 19 seats captured by Palestinian-led parties have triggered aggressive police raids, arbitrary arrests, and targeted interrogations by state security apparatuses.
The electoral gains made by the parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel – the Joint List and the United Arab List (Ra’am) – could give the Zionist opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the upper hand in forming the next government, if they choose to work with the Arab parties.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu and his allies have portrayed the increased vote share for the Palestinian-led parties as the result of illegality, a+nd say they represent Jewish Israelis.
Palestinian citizens of Israel have always been viewed as a “fifth column”, Ibrahim said, “and they are described as enemies of the state.”