Who’s (Not) a Zionist: RAAM or the Haredim?

Although the Israeli polls over the last two years have consistently shown that the Opposition is well ahead of the governing Coalition, the former are not at all guaranteed an absolute majority in the elections. The general trend: around 59 for the Opposition parties, approximately 51 for the Government’s parties, and roughly 10 for the Arab parties.

Given this breakdown, the governing coalition has but one realistic hope: ensuring that none of the Arab parties join the opposition. This would ensure a new government not being formed; new elections would then have to be called three months later (that’s five months after the previous one this coming October 27, because coalition negotiations take around two months to succeed or fail). In that scenario, PM Netanyahu continues in office indefinitely.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that the Likud’s main election campaign message is: “[Eizenkot/Bennett/etc.] will have Arabs joining the government.” With 70% of Israel’s Jews against an Arab party in the government, such an accusation has resonance. But it’s also hypocritical, and most probably doesn’t hint at what is most likely to happen.

The hypocrisy is evident in two different ways. In the previous post-election negotiations, the Likud itself was deeply involved in discussions with Mansour Abbas’s RAAM Party to see whether and how it could join the government. So back then RAAM was legitimate, but this election it isn’t?
Especially when after Oct. 7, 2023, Mansour Abbas (not the head of the Palestinian Authority; that’s Mahmoud Abbas) said absolutely nothing to support Hamas’s depredations. Indeed, in interviews that November he criticized the attack without reservation because it was “against everything we believe in, our religion, our Islam, our nationality, our humanity” (https://www.wsj.com/opinion/mansour-abbas-is-an-arab-and-a-proud-israeli-mideast-october-7-b4224ca6).

Moreover, Abbas already had served professionally in the previous Bennett/Lapid government. There was no “Fifth Column” evident anywhere in his functioning. This is a reflection of what’s going on in society in general as almost all Israelis are served by Arabs in all walks of life: pharmacies (Arabs make up about 50% of all Israeli pharmacists!), health care (lab workers and nurses), bus drivers et al, with no friction at all between Jews and Arabs in the economy. There are very few (if at all) government supporters who have not been serviced by Israeli Arabs on a regular basis without any friction. In real life they’re OK, but in politics not?

Perhaps the bigger Likud hypocrisy regarding his “veto” of RAAM is who Netanyahu is willing to sit with: the Haredim. If the criterion for serving in an Israeli government is being “Zionist,” then one has to ask who exactly is more or less of a Zionist: RAAM or the Haredi parties? One can’t argue that only Jews can be Zionists, because there have been numerous non-Jews and Christian organizations that have supported Israel morally and financially through the years, some even moving here to live in Israel. A rational definition of “Zionism” in its most generic sense is anyone who accepts the Jewish People’s right to self-determination through national sovereignty. RAAM has done exactly that; the Haredim, through their refusal to serve in the army (some extreme sects don’t even recognize the legitimacy of the Jewish State), cannot be considered “Zionist” – they themselves don’t.

Most Israeli Arabs do not serve in the IDF because the state prefers not forcing them to fight their “cousins” in Israel’s wars. However, any Arab can volunteer to be drafted, and many do (some Moslem, but especially the Druze and many Bedouins). Abbas has already stated that he supports civilian national service for all Arabs – something the Haredim also oppose. Indeed, Abbas recently announced that he is working on a plan to have “national public service for all” that would not be under the aegis of the Defense Ministry (https://www.themarker.com/weekend/2026-07-17/ty-article-magazine/.premium/0000019f-6a62-df91-a7df-eb72d88b0000). So why is Netanyahu willing to sit with the non-or-anti-Zionist Haredim but “vetoes” the opposition from governing with Arabs?

What is likely to occur, given that most of the present Opposition parties have stated that they will not include RAAM in the Government? The answer lies in their semantics: note that they use the term “Government” and not “Coalition.” What’s the difference?

In Israel, being in the “Government” means holding ministerial positions and sitting in the Cabinet. Being part of the “Coalition” entails voting with the Government in return for Knesset committee chairmanships (deciding policy), receiving government monies to implement specific pet programs, and taking part in deciding the new government’s overall policy direction – but not having any ministerial responsibility.

Thus, assuming the present Opposition parties receive 59 or 60 seats in the upcoming elections, this is the sort of scenario that might well play out: 1) RAAM joins the Coalition, voting with the new Government on the main issues; 2) In return, it receives the Chairmanship of the Knesset’s Finance Committee as well as its National Security Committee (in charge of the police among other institutions – this to forcefully work on the plague of organized crime in the Arab sector); 3) The Minister of National Security would be Yair Golan (head of the Left-wing Democratic Party, and a former IDF Vice-Chief of Staff) who is highly sympathetic to the needs of Israel’s Arab communities; 4) The Government devotes large sums of budgetary money to the Arab sector to improve its education and social welfare situation.

In short, one doesn’t have to serve in the “Government” to influence public policy in significant fashion. Being “merely” part of the governing Coalition serves two purposes. First, the present Opposition parties get to keep their promise of not including Arab parties in the “Government” – thereby neutralizing the Likud’s only real chance of staying in power. Second, the Arab sector finally gets to have major policy input and accompanying resources to start fixing the myriad problems with which it is beset, in large part due to past Israeli governments’ longstanding laissez-faire attitude regarding 20% of Israeli society. Given that the non-Zionist Haredim will lose all their state largesse in the next government assuming that they continue refusing military service, the financial wherewithal for helping the Arab sector will be right at hand.

Who knows? Perhaps from different directions, more than anything else that will ultimately push Israel’s Arabs and the country’s Haredim closer to mainstream Zionism!