Ahmad Tibi

MK Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint List, and MK Ahmad Tibi attend a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 7, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Bennett’s coalition crisis puts Palestinian parties in a dilemma

Facing disgruntled voters and the threat of Netanyahu's return, the Joint List appears conflicted about whether to provide a lifeline to the government.

By Wadea Awawdy April 11, 2022

Joint List chairperson Ayman Odeh casts his ballot at a voting station in Haifa, during the Knesset Elections, on March 2, 2020. (Flash90)

Could the Joint List rise as Israel’s left-wing vanguard?

With consensus on annexation among the center and right in third election, the Zionist left will have to radically rethink its mission.

By Edo Konrad March 2, 2020

Ahmad Tibi. 'The right attacks me because they accuse me of emphasizing Palestinian nationality.' (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Ahmad Tibi has a plan to unseat Netanyahu, but it means leaving his Palestinian partners

Ahmad Tibi’s recent announcement that he would split from the Joint List has rattled Palestinian citizens. In an interview, he speaks about the successes and failures of the list, why his party would be better off alone, and why he may join forces with Israel’s centrist leaders. By Meron Rapoport Four years after it was established, the Joint List, which succeeded in…

By +972 Magazine January 22, 2019

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Members of newly announced "United List" of Arab parties in Israel ahead of March 17, 2015 election Photo: Courtesy Balad)

Arab parties announce joint slate for upcoming election

In a bid to remain relevant with an increased electoral threshold, the three Arab parties and Communist party Hadash are to run on one list in the March 17 elections. In an unprecedented, historic move, Israel’s Arab parties Hadash, Balad, Ta’al and Ra’am announced late Thursday night that they will run on a joint slate…

By Mairav Zonszein January 22, 2015

Arab parties likely to announce historic joint election slate in coming days

Islamists, Marxists, women and Jews: The Arab parties have done the seemingly impossible and are likely announce a united election slate in the coming days. By Yael Marom and Nadav Frankovich Israel’s Arab parties are expected to announce the formation of a combined election slate in the lead-up to the upcoming elections. The slate, which…

By +972 Magazine January 22, 2015

Raam-Taal MK Ahmad Tibi (L) and Balad MK Jamal Zahalka (Photo by Activestills.org)

Why won’t the Arab parties just unite already?

Raising the Knesset threshold was a game-changer, and now the Arab parties must find a way to unite in order to stay relevant. Will they put aside their egos and political differences for the sake of Israel’s Palestinian minority? A war of attrition has been declared on the Palestinian minority in Israel, in the wake…

By Samah Salaime January 8, 2015

'Haaretz' journalist Gideon Levy (Photo by Yossi Gurvitz)

Dissent in Israel: On the margins, yes, in the mainstream, no

Regarding the controversy over Mairav Zonszein’s ‘New York Times’ op-ed: An ongoing climate of fear and suspicion is not conducive to ‘vibrant democracy.’ It is unfriendly to left-wing protest over security matters. Since my colleague Mairav Zonszein published her ballbuster op-ed “How Israel Silences Dissent” in the New York Times several days ago, there’s…

By Larry Derfner October 2, 2014

Protest against the boycott Law, Tel Aviv, June 12 2011 (photo: Oren Ziv/activestills)

Let’s stop using the terms ‘fascism’ and ‘democracy’ from now on

The debate over the state of Israeli democracy (or the rise of fascism) is code designed for lefty Zionists. Others don’t get it, and it may even do more harm than good. Some thoughts following Haaretz’s interview with Prof. Ze’ev Sternhell. There has been growing discussion over the last few weeks regarding the risk of fascism…

By Noam Sheizaf August 17, 2014

Palestinian construction workers in an Israeli settlement (Photo by Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

Protecting the secrets of Israel’s settlement enterprise

MK David Rotem unabashedly stopped a vote that would apply Israel’s freedom of information act to the World Zionist Organization’s (WZO) “Settlement Division,” an extra-governmental organization that receives 100 percent of its budget from the State of Israel and is responsible for much of the settlement building in the West Bank. Why would he do…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man April 3, 2014

MK Hanin Zoabi (photo: Oren Ziv/ Activestills.org)

Time to end the delegitimization of Arab Knesset members

Any time the subject of Arab legislators or Arab parties in Israel comes up, someone always feels the tiresome need to mouth off about how horrible Arab members of Knesset are. With crocodile tears, they accuse those MKs of manipulating or forgetting Arab citizens and getting lost in their occupation obsession (a thin guise for…

By Dahlia Scheindlin March 14, 2014

PM Netanyahu, with President Peres and Supreme Court President Grunis (L) at the official Rabin memorial, Mount Herzl, October 16, 2013. (Photo: GPO/Mark Neyman)

Israel 2013: Netanyahu preaches the lessons of Rabin’s murder

And nobody objects. I was listening on the radio to the prime minister’s speech in the Knesset on Wednesday for the 18th anniversary (on the Hebrew calendar) of the Rabin assassination, and it just struck me how far we’ve come in this country. Bibi Netanyahu is now preaching to Israel the lessons of Rabin’s murder.…

By Larry Derfner October 18, 2013

Knesset Members protest in silence the rise of election threshold to 4 percent, a move that could see all Palestinian perties eliminated. From top-left corner: MK Barakeh (Hadash); MK Tibi, with back to the Knesset (Ra'am Ta'al); MK Zoabi (Balad); MK Gal-On (Meretz); MK Zahalka, with tape on his mouth (Balad); MK Gafni (United Torah Judaism); MK Zandberg (Meretz); MK Michaeli (Labor); MK Horowitz (Meretz)

Knesset approves bill that could push Arab parties out

After a stormy night session, the coalition was able to pass the necessary amendments and election laws that would make it more difficult to topple a government and eliminate small factions. Left-wing and Palestinian members of Knesset protested the legislation in ‘silent speeches.’ Ultra-Orthodox MK Eichler spoke to the Arab public in Arabic, saying ‘we…

By Noam Sheizaf August 1, 2013

MK Ahmad Tibi and former settler leader Dani Dayan fight on Twitter (Photo: Jonathan Klinger/CC, Herzliya Conference PR)

MK Ahmad Tibi, ex-settler leader Dayan duke it out on Twitter

Two of the most well-spoken public figures in Israel are MK Ahmad Tibi and former settler leader Dani Dayan. Dr. Tibi is known to lecture to the Knesset plenum in prose, and is considered one of the MKs with the best command of the Hebrew language. Dayan, on the other hand, has the uncanny ability…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man May 12, 2013