Will Knesset member Ahmad Tibi, chairman of Taal, succeed in breaking the longstanding taboo of “anyone but Arabs in the coalition”? While it is still too early to tell, the possibility is already keeping Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu awake at night.
On the evening of the 2015 elections, Netanyahu had warned, “Arab voters are heading to the polling stations in droves,” managing to drum up more votes for himself. On Feb. 9, he posted a video on his Facebook page attacking Benny Gantz, head of Israel Resilience, and insinuating that Arab votes are illegitimate. The target of his intimidation campaign was Tibi: “You vote for Gantz; you get Tibi,” is the title of the clip, which claims, among other things, “The Oslo Accords passed because of the Arabs’ votes. … Former Chief of Staff Gantz will do it again.”