What do the recent election results say?

Written by: Ali Habibullah

Let us first emphasize that what is called the right and the extreme right versus the left in Israel is a differentiation that takes place within Zionism and not outside it, and Zionism with its colonial structure is the antithesis of our existence as Arabs, under which our citizenship can only be completed by confronting it. This must remain settled, at least for the national movement movement at home.

However, this Israeli partisan national consensus on the Zionism and Judaism of the state should not negate the need for our attention to the form of political transformations within or under the Zionist-Israeli map, and we mean in terms of the spread of the fascism of the religious right in it. The results of the recent elections show us the extent to which Israeli society has gradually accepted the "populist" and fascist ideology that Ben Gvir and Smotrich hold, for example, when they won 14 seats.

Populism has always been a phenomenon related to democratic systems, and while Israel is in its essence Zionist and has a democratic character, the populism of Ben Gvir and Smotrich is a matter pertaining to the Zionist political map itself, because the state is democratic for its Jews first, so the populism of the religious right does not concern the Arabs as much as it does the Jews. As for the fascism of the religious right, it is related to the Palestinian Arab citizens in the country in terms of the escalation of the fascist Zionist tone towards them.

The results of the recent elections are not a victory for the right, but rather a resolution of a form of the right within the right itself. The right, with all its components, has been disobedient to Netanyahu in recent years, which prevented the latter from forming a stable government, which led to five elections in less than four years. Today, he has become a majority in favor of Netanyahu, which will enable him to form a government without having to subjugate the entire right in it.

Otherwise, the high voter turnout in the Israeli-Jewish community in the recent elections in an unprecedented way in recent decades, which raised the percentage of votes required by the decision-making ratio this time, revealed the form of state Zionism that has become more compatible with its right. The results, with a high vote rate, did not only bring Ben Gvir and Smotrich and the spread of their fascism, but also dropped the Meretz party from the map of parliamentary political representation in the Knesset, as well as the decline of the Labor Party, which was barely able to pass the electoral threshold by four seats. Meretz and Labor are the two parties that are considered the last strongholds of the "left" within the Zionist political map in the country.

The most important thing these results say are two things, the first: The language of Zionism, represented by the fascist right, has become more clear and reconciled with its structure that built the Jewish state historically. The second: These results tell Mansour Abbas and his party's approach quite simply: You can change and become mentally authoritarian and nothing more. Actually, that is not possible in such a form of the right-wing of the upcoming executive power.

What about Arab parties?

The elections ended, while the National Democratic Gathering was outside the Knesset, for the first time since the birth of the party and its representation in the Knesset in 1996. The assembly, led by Sami Abu Shehadeh, received more than 139,000 votes, a result that did not allow the party to cross the threshold, but it was prevented Defeat the assembly and attempt to overthrow it and remove it from the political arena. As the assembly, which was forced to run in the elections alone, surprised everyone with its ability to achieve this popular rally around it with a limited period of time and modest organizational and financial resources.

However, the results of the Arab elections were closed to the National Democratic Assembly alone, after each of the United List - the Southern Islamic Movement - led by Mansour Abbas managed to win 5 seats by obtaining more than 190,000 votes. Likewise, the Front / Tibi coalition list won nearly 179,000 votes, giving it 5 seats as well, leaving the National Assembly alone outside the circle of parliamentary representation.

The strength of the United List - the Southern Islamic Movement - increased by an additional seat despite its problematic participation in the previous government coalition for the first time, and despite all the political and security practices of the Bennett-Lapid government towards our people in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. The front has also relatively maintained its strength in alliance with Tibi, despite our Arab society's dissatisfaction with it and its leaders, who stand at the top of its electoral list.

That the Unified List was able to increase the strength of its representation, as well as the Front, which increased its representation this time in the Knesset with an additional seat also in rotation with Tibi, indicates the stability of the voting blocs of both the Unified List and the Front. Indeed, the strength of the voting bloc of the Unified List has increased this time. Al-Muwahhidah was able to unexpectedly get almost double the votes it got in the 24 elections in the Negev, which indicates that Al-Muwahhidah, as well as the Front, have fixed voting blocs linked to groups that have distinct social features.

Al-Muwahidha has become the line that represents the Bedouin Arab segment in the south and north of the country (Bedouins of the Negev and Bedouins of the North), while the front is still the closest to certain circles in the Galilee and “mixed” cities, which explains to us the stability of voting blocs with identity-social surveys, regardless of About the political form presented by both lists, and this is not available to the National Democratic Assembly, despite the mass rally around it in the recent elections. This is due to the structure of the Tagammu’ Party and its political identity since its establishment as a national movement representing all components of society, regardless of their social and cultural diversity.

The most important thing that the results of the recent elections refer to, whether in the Jewish-Israeli society or our Arab society, is that we live in a stage in which the “political” crisis is expressed with social concerns, as the principles (principles) of the party are no longer sufficient to form its followers, but rather become The strength of the party requires the formation of a common social structure for all who represent it. As for the National Democratic Assembly, the party was able to prevent its defeat, but its winning the battle does not end with the results of the last elections, by obtaining 139,000 votes. This is the assembly exam in the next stage. About "Arab 48"