In recent years many Palestinian citizens of Israel shunned elections, believing there was little to gain from participating in the politics of a state which, they say, regularly marginalizes their communities and oppresses their fellow Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
asserted
they → shun → Bank
But last month, Palestinian Arabs in Israel came to the ballot boxes in record numbers, helping strip Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's most far-right government in Israel's history of its majority, and giving Arab-led parties the votes they needed to become a powerful force in Israeli politics.
"We blocked the government of Netanyahu from continuing," said Jamal Zahalka, chairman of the High Follow-Up Committee, the main umbrella body representing Palestinian citizens of Israel.
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Zahalka → come → Israel
I think our community found its strength."
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community → think → strength
Neither Netanyahu's coalition, nor his main challenger Gadi Eisenkot's center-right opposition, reached the threshold of 61 seats needed to form a government.
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coalition → reach → government
Arab-led parties won 19 out of 120 seats – enough to give them a critical role in the negotiations that will now determine who governs Israel at this turbulent moment in the country's history.
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who → lead → history
The election results strike at the heart of the decades-long questions about how Israel defines itself and the role of Palestinian Arabs in its society.
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Israel → strike → society
At a park in the Palestinian-majority town of Kufr Qasim two days after the election, hundreds of people gathered for the annual commemoration of residents gunned down in 1956 by Israeli border police on the opening day of the Suez Crisis in the violent early years of the state, when Israel, Britain and France attacked Egypt after it nationalized the Suez Canal.
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it → gather → Canal
"And today we stand here, 70 years later," the speaker told the large crowd from a podium: "And the story still isn't over."
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story → stand → podium
The crowd at this event, mostly dressed in black — some wearing the keffiyeh, the black and white stitched scarf symbolizing Palestinian resistance — mourned not only their lost relatives all those years ago, but also the suffering of Palestinians now: the sharp rise in discrimination against their communities in Israel since the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023; Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza that has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and left a population to survive amid the ruins of the enclave.
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that → dress → enclave
And the actions of Netanyahu's extreme right-wing government in the occupied West Bank, where rights groups and the U.N. say it has armed and supported settlers as they force Palestinians from their homes and agricultural lands with unprecedented violence.
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they → occupy → violence
Worsening rights inside Israel was one reason, residents of Kufr Qasm told NPR, why so many Palestinian citizens in Israel went to the ballot boxes.
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citizens → worsen → boxes
"There is no freedom anymore," said Intisar Sarsur, 65, sitting with relatives beside an olive tree in the park in Kufr Qasim.
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Sarsur → be → Qasim
We are seeking for our basic rights as human beings.
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We → seek → beings
"Everybody that I know participated in the elections.
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I → know → elections
Not one person stayed home," Sarsur said.
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Sarsur → stay → ?
She and her family were sharing platters of mutabbaq, a sweet Palestinian layered pastry, and freshly pressed olive oil from this year's olive harvest – usually a joyous moment in the Palestinian calendar, that she said now felt bittersweet.
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she → share → calendar
This year the olive harvest for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank was marred by frequent attacks by Israeli settlers trying to disrupt this economically and culturally significant time of year.
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harvest → occupy → year
Palestinian citizens of Israel, descendants of those who remained as the state of Israel was established in 1948 (when a majority of the prewar population was forcibly expelled or fled during the war) now make up about 20 per cent of the population.
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majority → remain → population
This election, Arab-led parties received a 64 percent increase in votes compared to the last elections, according to the Central Elections Committee.
uncertain
parties → lead → Committee
The gains they made have stirred anger, and even fear, among many on Israel's political right, who see them as a threat to the country's Jewish character.
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who → make → character
Netanyahu and his allies made the large Arab turnout a rallying cry.
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turnout → make → ?
On election day, Netanyahu posted a video calling it an "emergency".
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Netanyahu → post → it
Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right national security minister, filmed his own appeal at the entrance to Kufr Qasim: "If you want this country to remain Jewish and Zionist … then get out and vote!"
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country → film → Qasim
As results came in, Netanyahu's Likud party went further.
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party → come → ?
It claimed Arab parties had "stolen" the election through bribery, threats and forgery, and later warned of a foreign takeover of the Knesset and the "Islamization of Israel."
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parties → claim → Israel
The party has made no evidence public.
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evidence → make → ?
Police say they found no basis for the claims, and election officials say there was no widespread fraud.
uncertain
officials → say → claims
The head of the elections committee separately asked the Shin Bet security service to investigate suspected foreign funding of efforts to boost Arab turnout.
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head → ask → turnout
But he and the attorney general say the vote was conducted properly and the results were not compromised.
The messaging by Netanyahu's bloc is widely seen as an attempt to prevent Eisenkot's center-right grouping from partnering with Arab parties — a reality that would give Eisenkot the majority he needs to form a government.
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he → say → government
But the sharp rise in anti-Arab sentiment since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed, has made an alliance with any Arab party potentially politically treacherous and could cause other Jewish right wing members of his bloc to split off in fury.
uncertain
members → kill → fury
A former military chief of staff whose son was killed fighting in Gaza, he served as an observer in Netanyahu's war cabinet early in the war.
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he → kill → war
And he still cuts a hawkish figure.
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he → cut → figure
As a general, he is credited with formulating the "Dahiyeh doctrine," which he laid out in 2008: using "disproportionate force" against villages from which militants fire on Israel, which he called "not civilian villages" but "military bases."
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he → credit → which
It is named after Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold that Israel largely decimated in heavy bombardment in 2006.
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Israel → name → 2006
So Arab parties are divided on how to use the power they gained in this election.
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they → divide → election
Ra'am, a socially conservative Islamist party, campaigned on joining a governing coalition and put a Jewish former police official second on its list.
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Ra'am → campaign → list
But for now the Joint List alliance that won 11 of the 19 Arab-led party seats in this election won't formally partner with Eisenkot.
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that → win → Eisenkot
Its leaders have said they could back his government from the outside, but won't join it, citing Israel's ongoing war in Gaza and its occupation of the West Bank.
uncertain
they → say → Bank
President Isaac Herzog has been consulting with parties over who they would support to try to form a coalition.
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they → consult → coalition
He is expected to announce which candidate he'll give a mandate to next week, to try to form a coalition.
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he → expect → coalition
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
