Mansour Abbas and Yoav Segalovitz announce joint ticket in Israeli elections

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The political landscape in Israel is undergoing significant shifts as parties race to submit candidate lists before the October 27th election, a period marked by potential mergers and strategic maneuvers. A particularly notable development involves Mansour Abbas of the Ram party forming a joint ticket with Yoav Segalovitz, a former Jewish member of the Knesset and ex-head of the severe crimes unit in the Israeli police. This alliance represents a historic moment for Arab parties, which have rarely included Jewish parliamentarians, especially those from law enforcement backgrounds. The primary objective of this union is to challenge the prevailing narrative that Arab parties are illegitimate participants in the coalition government, thereby attempting to bridge the divide between Zionist and Arab political factions. Beyond breaking down these ideological barriers, the inclusion of Segalovitz serves a dual purpose aimed at both Arab and Jewish voters. For Arab communities, his presence signals a serious commitment to addressing rampant crime within their societies, an issue that has become central to their electoral concerns. Simultaneously, the move is designed to attract undecided Jewish voters who feel politically homeless and might view this cross-community collaboration as a positive step forward. This strategy highlights a broader trend where political parties are increasingly looking beyond traditional ethnic lines to build coalitions that can withstand internal fragmentation and external pressure from other right-wing groups. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a precarious situation as he attempts to unite the right-wing bloc against the emerging Ram alliance. He is actively warning that new parties could destabilize his current government and is reaching out to smaller far-right leaders to prevent a similar scenario to those of 1992 or 1999, where internal dissent led to electoral losses or prolonged instability. Netanyahu's efforts are complicated by infighting among right-wing factions, creating an ironic situation where he previously dismissed the importance of left-wing vote distribution but now finds himself vulnerable to fragmentation on his own side. His campaign is also navigating controversies, such as managing public perception of its "crocodile prison plan," which some fear may be viewed as a gimmick rather than a serious policy proposal. The strategic maneuvering extends to figures like Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose political style has drawn criticism for appearing more like that of a teenage activist than a seasoned government minister. While he has implemented popular policies such as restricting privileges for terrorists in prison and supporting the death penalty for terrorism, his public behavior often undermines these achievements with juvenile stunts, including wearing a noose pin after passing related legislation. Critics argue that such actions are inappropriate for serious security issues and could backfire during coalition negotiations. As the election approaches, the success of any new government will depend on how well these diverse groups can overcome their differences and form a stable alliance capable of governing effectively in the coming months.

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parties have just over a week to submit their candidate lists ahead of voting day on the 27th of October. Many moves, maneuvers, and mergers are likely to happen between now and then. So, senior Middle East correspondent Ariel Osaran is here with the latest because Mansur Abbas is taking on a Jewish member of parliament into the Ram party. a hugely significant situation unfolding just moments ago. Who benefits the most from this kind of announcement? What can you tell us? >> Yeah, I think more than Mansur Abbas bring on to the team Yav Sealovich, former Yashhatid, member of Knesset and former head of the severe crimes unit in the Israeli police. But I think the fact that Yav Sealovich is joining, a former Islamist party, I think this is very significant. We have we have seen Jewish parliament members in Arab parties, for example, in Kadash. They always have one spot reserved in the top four for a Jewish member of Knesset. But we haven't seen that in RAM. And we haven't seen a law enforcement or even you can say a defense establishment senior official joining the ranks of an Arab party and specifically the party. Now the main goal of this um joint venture is to try and break the divides between what is seen as the the Zionist parties and the Arab parties who are being looked at as a whole as not being legitimate. That is according to the parties who are uh part of this current coalition. But we have seen Ram in the coalition back just a few years ago. The previous government admas in the coalition. They didn't have any ministries under their responsibility but we did see them part of the coalition. And the goal here is twofold. one to try and break this divide that Arab parties are illegit are not legitimate to be part of the coalition. That is one and another bring Seagelovich. He personally had the um special um framework to deal with to combat uh violence in Arab communities and this is perhaps the main issue right now for Arab voters in Israel. So bringing him on to the team in is a message to Arab voters that they indeed intend to tackle this issue of rampant crime in Arab society, but also to perhaps attract some Jewish voters as well who can't find their political home anywhere and might see this joint venture as a positive prospect moving forward. The political landscape is certainly starting to shape into something very interesting. Thank you so much, senior Middle East correspondent Ariel Osaran. To that exact point, it's a pleasure to bring into this conversation Ruthie Bloom, senior contributing editor and podcast host at the Jewish News Syndicate and a former adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, joining us from Tel Aviv. Ruthie, thank you so much. Good to see you. So, Benjamin Netanyahu has his work cut out for him. He's warning that offer's new people of Israel party could bring down his block. He's also trying to meet with leaders of smaller farright parties ahead of that deadline for candidate lists to be submitted. So, what do you make of the prime minister's efforts to try and unite the right at the moment? Well, look, he keeps reminding everybody that this has happened before, and he usually brings up 1992 when it was because of the right and right-wing parties, you could say purists who weren't satisfied with the government um and wanted to have it more to the right, ended up handing the victory over to the left and that brought Israel the Oslo Accords. I mean, he brings that up a lot. He also mentions that in 1999 uh when the right won the election except for one thing uh a Victor Lieberman um he decided at the last minute after the elections after there was even sort of a victory lap Netanyahu took with his wife on stage uh Lieberman said oh no I changed my mind I'm not going to be part of your coalition and that resulted in five rounds of elections that there were impass after impass after impass. So I think he's very concerned and he's right to be concerned. Uh I think it's a shame that there's so much infighting. We see that among these parties because it's bad enough that there's this uh terrible split between the left and the right but now inside the right and you know it's ironic because Netanyahu said a few weeks ago I don't care how the left distributes its votes you know when they were talking about different left-wing parties and now he's in that situation >> and talking about tensions within the right ben coming up with this creative and obviously controversial social animated ad for his Jewish power party. There are also reports in wet that he has told his campaign to play down that highly contentious crocodile prison plan amid fears that voters would see it as a gimmick. And let's be honest, putting crocodiles in most to secure prisons isn't going to go down well. Your take on Itamar Bengave's strategy right now. Okay, here's the trouble with Itamar Beng in my view and um it's not that I support his party in particular. Here's the trouble with him. He acts like a teenage activist rather than a minister in the government. And it's like he can't shake that and it's his own doing. What do I mean by that? He has implemented policies that many Israelis support uh including death penalty for terrorists or during the when the hostages were still in Gaza and the Nukeba terrorists were in prison in Israel and he was denying them of all kinds of privileges and he said okay no more summer camp in prison for these terrorists. uh and I think most Israelis supported that. And then he undoes any good work he accomplishes by pulling stunts like for example when he passed the uh death penalty for terrorist bill. He his wife threw him a birthday party and had a noose on it and he wore a little noose a yellow noose sort of like a pin the pin the hostages pin only this was a noose. Now, you didn't he didn't need to do that. What for? It's not cute and it's not funny. It's a serious issue and one that I certainly supported. But that behavior is very juvenile. And it certainly looks like that kind of behavior could well backfire. And again, we wait to see how it all impacts efforts for somebody to try and form a coalition after October 27. Ruthie Bloom live from Tel Aviv. Always appreciate your insights. Thank you for being with us on the rundown. >> Thank you so much. Thank you.