Former diplomat says Israeli opposition is acting recklessly by shunning Arab parties

Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli diplomat and political analyst, stated on October 28 that the reluctance of opposition leaders to work with Arab-led parties is myopic and reckless. He made these comments following recent elections in Israel where Arab-led parties secured strong results. The outcome has forced opposition figures to decide whether they will partner with these groups to build a new government.

Pinkas advised former Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres. He told NPR's Morning Edition that opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot has two viable paths. The first is to form a full coalition with the Arab-led parties. The second is to create a minority government that receives outside support from those parties. Under that arrangement, the parties would back major legislation and confidence votes without holding formal coalition seats.

Despite these options, both Eisenkot and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have publicly rejected the idea of working with Arab-led parties. These parties draw much of their support from Palestinian citizens of Israel. Netanyahu described the prospect of a government relying on their support as a shame and a disgrace.

Pinkas challenged the argument that relying on Arab-led parties would undermine Israel's status as a Jewish state. He noted that ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties often describe themselves as non-Zionist. He questioned why the same logic does not apply to them. He attributed the growing support for Arab-led parties to rising crime and murder rates in Arab communities. He said organized crime groups are involved in much of that violence.

The former diplomat said Netanyahu's government willfully ignored the plight of these communities. He cited the failure to deploy police or investigate killings as evidence of that neglect. Pinkas was emphatic about Netanyahu's chances of forming a government. He stated that Netanyahu cannot form a government, repeating the word to stress his point. Political observers currently doubt a partnership will materialize given the stated positions of the leaders involved.