Arab-Majority Parties

These parties represent Israel’s Arab citizens (roughly 20% of the population). None currently sit in the outgoing coalition, and most Jewish parties — across both the Netanyahu and “change” blocs — have ruled out governing with them, which is why they’re presented as their own bloc here rather than folded into “left” or “right.” (The 2021–2022 Bennett-Lapid government was the exception, formally including Ra’am.)

The Joint List question

Hebrew: הרשימה המשותפת (HaReshima HaMeshutefet)

In January 2026 all four Arab-aligned parties signed a commitment to revive a unified Joint List, as they had in 2015 and 2020, partly as insurance against any one party falling below the 3.25% threshold running alone. Talks repeatedly broke down — chiefly over Ra’am’s insistence on a purely “technical” bloc (i.e., shared for vote-counting purposes only) that would preserve its freedom to join a future government independently.

• May 24, 2026: Hadash, Ta’al, and Balad announced a three-party slate without Ra’am.
• Early August 2026: that slate hit its own snag when Ta’al’s Ahmad Tibi rejected the committee-proposed candidate order.
• Status as of this writing: genuinely unsettled. Abbas told Channel 12 in July he wouldn’t run jointly with the other Arab parties, and mainstream coverage generally frames Ra’am as leaning toward running alone — but at least one right-leaning outlet has separately reported Ra’am signaling willingness to rejoin a Joint List, and other reporting suggests Ra’am has left the door open to renewed talks closer to the list deadline. Treat “Ra’am runs alone” as the current lean, not a settled outcome.

Polling suggests the Arab parties would collectively win more total seats running together than running apart, due to the mechanics of the threshold and vote pooling — a recurring dynamic in every election since 2015.

Tap a party below for its full profile.

Bloc-wide 2026 polling: roughly 10 seats combined (Hadash-Ta’al ~5, Ra’am ~5). These parties hold the mathematical balance of power in most seat projections but are excluded from most coalition-formation scenarios discussed by Jewish parties across both other blocs — see Coalition Map.