Citing the current coronavirus outbreak, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked on March 12, “An emergency government was established 53 years ago in Israel. I call for the establishment of a similar government now. This evening.” He then called on Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz to join him in the endeavor. Gantz tweeted in response, “Given the situation, we are prepared to discuss the creation of a broad national emergency government, which would include representatives of all parties in the House.” In other words, the government he envisioned should include the Arab Joint List. Netanyahu later clarified his position, asserting, “Supporters of terrorism cannot be part of the government, whether under routine circumstances or in times of emergency.”

In short, Netanyahu is adopting the same tack he took after the September elections. As I explained March 10 in Al-Monitor, he continues to paint the Joint List, which won 15 Knesset seats in this month's election, as ineligible to participate in the political arena. Netanyahu makes a point of calling Arab Knesset members “supporters of terrorism,” to try to prevent them from gaining legitimacy and become an integral part of Israeli politics, which is best characterized as Jewish.

In fact, the entire right-wing/ultra-Orthodox bloc that Netanyahu leads acts as if all the Arab parties' Knesset members are not part of Israeli politics at all. In other words, the Knesset consists of 105 members, not 120. Netanyahu realizes that once the Arab parties become regular partners in the formation of coalitions and governments, the right could lose its chance to head the government. At the same time, the impression emerging across the political spectrum suggests that the center-left has no chance of forming a government without the help of the Arabs.

So, although Netanyahu may use his frequent press conferences these days to say that the coronavirus does not distinguish between Jews and Arabs, he definitely distinguishes between Jewish Knesset members and citizens and their Arab counterparts and seeks to form an emergency government for Jews only. Gantz provided a clear picture of this March 14 when he wrote on Facebook that Netanyahu had proposed that he join an emergency government that “would not distinguish between right and left, religious and secular, Jews and Arabs.… I suggested that our negotiating teams meet to discuss the necessity and possibility of forming a broad government for the next little while.… I have yet to receive a serious response to my offer.”