Democrats party head Yair Golan on Wednesday morning called for Israel’s opposition to form a government with the resurgent Arab parties in the next Knesset, arguing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lost the 2026 election with some 55 seats, compared to the opposition’s 65.
“Netanyahu lost. I know how to count to 120. Sixty-five is more than 55. That’s how Israeli democracy works. Period,” the former IDF deputy chief of staff wrote on social media.
“We have no future here if we don’t stop being afraid…We must no longer accept Netanyahu’s racist division between Jewish votes and Arab votes,” Golan added. “The voice of an Israeli citizen voting in Taybeh is worth exactly as much as the voice of an Israeli citizen voting in Givat Shmuel.”
Arguing that the opposition has a majority along with Ra’am and the Joint List, Golan said that his bloc has a “responsibility and an opportunity to form a government of change in partnership with Israel’s Arab citizens.”
Golan further argued that the opposition won a Zionist majority, saying that the prime minister “should substract 16 seats” belonging to non-Zionist, haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties in Shas and United Torah Judaism.
Joint List party chairman Yousef Jabareen and supporters gather at the party’s election headquarters in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth, October 27, 2026. (credit: Sharon Leibel/Flash90)
Later on Wednesday, Joint List chairman Yousef Jabareen said on Wednesday that his party was ready to “pave the way for the ousting of the Netanyahu government.”
“Against a government of bloodshed, against a politics of supremacy, racism, and exclusion, we offer a completely different alternative,” he posted on X/Twitter.
“The change comes through Jewish-Arab partnership, a true and equal partnership. No less than that, and no more than that,” he added.
Earlier, in an interview with Army Radio, senior Joint List lawmaker Ahmad Tibi hinted at his faction’s to sit with the opposition in a government. “The opposition bloc will be able to form a government if it has the courage. We are extending a hand and are ready to help,” he said.
Democrats’ Gilad Kariv: Israel in a ‘different political reality’ post-elections
MK Gilad Kariv (The Democrats) said that Israel is in a “different political reality” the morning after the 2026 Knesset elections and called for the opposition bloc to work with Arab parties.
“The fully right-wing coalition has lost quite a few seats. It will most likely be unable to form a government in a similar configuration,” he wrote on X/Twitter.
“The opposition has grown stronger, both in its representation of the liberal Jewish public and in its representation of the Arab public. A substantial majority, by a margin of hundreds of thousands of votes, voted against Netanyahu.
“A huge segment of the Israeli public – one that serves, works, contributes, and creates – expects us to make significant and fateful decisions about Israel’s future and to continue acting together, with the full understanding that Netanyahu and his partners must not be allowed to continue leading our country down the destructive path they have taken over the past four years,” he concluded.
Arab parties receive unprecedented number of seats in 2026 elections
This follows projections that two Arab parties, Ra’am and the Joint List, will win six and 11 seats, respectively, according to data from the Central Elections Committee (CEC).
The opposition bloc, comprising Yashar, B’Yachad, Yisrael Beytenu, and the Democrats, is expected to enter the Knesset with 49 seats, according to data from the CEC.
CEC data shows that Golan’s Democrats is projected to win eight seats in the 2026 elections.