Why Israel's opposition no longer wants Palestinian parties in government

Why Israel's opposition no longer wants Palestinian parties in government Submitted by Samah Watad on Thu, 08/06/2026 - 14:31 Anti-Netanyahu leaders who once defended cooperation with Palestinian parties now rule it out, reflecting a broader post-7 October shift in Israeli politics Arab Israeli lawmakers Mansour Abbas (L) and Ayman Odeh (R) at the Knesset in Jerusalem on 29 December 2022 (Amir Cohen/AFP) Off Gadi Eisenkot last week became the latest Israeli politician to pledge to form a "Zionist majority" government if he became Israel's next prime minister. The phrase is widely understood as ruling out a coalition with Palestinian Arab parties to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "I prefer to achieve a Zionist majority of 63-64 seats, and if that doesn't happen, to call on the ultra-Orthodox parties to understand the gravity of the moment," Eisenkot, a former general and leader of the Yashar party, said at a security conference organised by Yedioth Ahronoth and the Institute for National Security Studies.