National Unity will not cooperate with the Arab-Israeli party Hadash-Ta’al even though it broke away from the more extreme Balad faction, Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Monday in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post. His remarks ended speculation about a possible government led by Prime Minister Yair Lapid supported by the Arab parties.
"The Joint List is an extreme party, with anti-Israeli positions in a number of senses, and a government that will rely on it will not be able to fulfill its mission,” Sa’ar said. “This may harm very fundamental things.”His full comments will be published in this weekend’s Frontlines.
"Our intention, in general, is to form a broad, national party that will not rely on the extremes. I believe that that is needed in Israel in order to bring stability. A government that relies on the Joint List will be anything but stable," Sa'ar added.
"Our intention, in general, is to form a broad, national party that will not rely on the extremes. I believe that that is needed in Israel in order to bring stability. A government that relies on the Joint List will be anything but stable."
Justice Minister Gideon Saar
Hadash-Ta’al, led by MKs Ayman Odeh and MK Ahmad Tibi, submitted its list without MK Sami Abou Shahadeh’s Balad, in a dramatic turn of events last Thursday night.
Balad is widely viewed as having the most extreme views out of the three factions of the Joint List, and it initially insisted on a separatist policy and on refusal in advance to participate with any government.
With Balad no longer involved, widespread speculation began about whether a window of opportunity had opened for Lapid to cooperate with Odeh and Tibi to form a government following the November 1 election. But National Unity is also a necessary partner for Lapid, and Sa’ar’s flat-out ban means that option is off the table.
No window of opportunity
“There is no window of opportunity,” Sa’ar said. “It is enough to hear statements made in recent days by MK Ofer Cassif [Hadash] and Ahmad Tibi. We are not partners because of their positions, not because they are mostly representatives of the Arab public.”
In an interview with Kol Barama Radio on Sunday night, Cassif said that “a Palestinian who shoots an IDF soldier is a guerrilla fighter. I support nonviolent struggle, [and] don’t want anyone killed. According to the definition accepted in the world and the UN’s definition, a people under occupation has a right to take up arms against the occupier."
"I oppose this, but they cannot be called terrorists, just as the ‘12 martyrs’ [members of the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary organizations who were sentenced to death in mandatory Palestine, known as Olei Hagardom] cannot be called this. In the eyes of most of the German public, those who fought the occupying forces in Poland were called partisans, not terrorists,” he said.
Sa’ar said this was his view all along, and it was agreed to by party leader Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
Together with Sa’ar’s ideological stance, National Unity also has a political incentive to block Hadash-Ta’al, it would diminish Lapid’s chances of forming a government.
In an interview at a conference hosted by Israel Hayom on Sunday, Gantz said: “I do not see how Yair [Lapid] will succeed in forming a government. He received a government and did not create it.”