While tight monitoring of the Sept. 17 election results has delayed publication of the official numbers, as of the morning after, even partial results have made the situation abundantly clear. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party's warnings that the country’s Arab parties would steal the elections had a boomerang effect. The Joint List led by Knesset member Ayman Odeh will likely be the third-largest faction in the 22nd Knesset, with at least 13 of its 120 seats, after the Likud and Blue and White. According to counted ballots, turnout among Arab voters rose by 10% compared to the April elections (60%, far higher than the record-low 49% in April). The Joint List received about 430,000 votes compared to 337,000 in April in what was quite likely a response to Netanyahu’s baseless accusations that fraud in Arab polling stations prevented him from forming a government after the April elections.

Knesset member Ahmad Tibi is chair of the Ta’al Party, one of the factions that form the Joint List. He summed up election day with, “The Arabs flocked to the polls,” paraphrasing Netanyahu’s infamous 2015 video warning of high Arab turnout and exhorting his followers to go out and vote.

Now Arab voters have made Netanyahu’s task of forming Israel’s next government almost impossible. “This is a historic day,” Tibi declared. The extent of the “historic” development was made even clearer shortly after Blue and White leader Benny Gantz delivered a victory speech and called potential partners for a possible future government. Among the first was Odeh.

Although Arab parties have never joined Israel’s coalition governments, prior to the elections Odeh expressed a desire to join a “democratic and liberal” government in which the country’s 21% Arab minority would be accepted as a full partner. However, the center-left Blue and White gave him the cold shoulder both in the lead-up to the April voting and before this week’s elections, fearing any association with the Arabs would drive away Jewish voters. During their many years in power, the Israeli right and Netanyahu in particular have managed to depict Arab lawmakers as a fifth column, illegitimate representatives acting within the legislature to undermine the Jewish state.