Palestinian citizens of Israel face intimidation after election success

Israel has officially certified its election results – delivering a blow to right-wing claims of a stolen vote – but the record 19 seats captured by Palestinian-led parties have triggered aggressive police raids, arbitrary arrests, and targeted interrogations by state security apparatuses.

The electoral gains made by the parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel – the Joint List and the United Arab List (Ra’am) – could give the Zionist opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the upper hand in forming the next government, if they choose to work with the Arab parties.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu and his allies have portrayed the increased vote share for the Palestinian-led parties as the result of illegality, a+nd say they represent Jewish Israelis.

Political analyst Mamoun Abu Amer told Al Jazeera that the political backlash was preplanned.

“From the beginning, it was clearly a systematic campaign when Arab citizens mobilised heavily, especially in the villages, the Naqab and the Bedouin areas,” Abu Amer said. He noted that the heavy turnout deeply shocked the Israeli political establishment, prompting Netanyahu to launch a smear campaign to discredit the democratic process.

Ahmad Tibi, leader of the Ta’al Party – which is part of the Joint List – shared a similar analysis.

“There is no indication that the elections were manipulated in the Arab towns, as everyone expected the voting rate to be high this time in advance due to the bad reality created by this government for our public,” Tibi told Al Jazeera. “On the contrary, there was a press report on Israel’s Channel 12 television revealing that the Likud party, led by Netanyahu, had prepared and readied a file before the elections to invent this falsehood when the results were issued, because they know with absolute certainty that they will lose the elections.”

The intimidation campaign against Palestinian citizens of Israel materialised through aggressive police actions on election day. As reported by The Jerusalem Post, police arrested several Ra’am supporters for alleged vote-buying, which Likud immediately invoked to claim an attempt to steal the election. However, many of the suspects were quickly released, with a judge noting that suspicions had weakened and that investigators had failed to explain why restrictions were necessary. Defence lawyers maintained the seized funds were intended for charitable assistance.

“The best proof of this is that the detainees were released,” Tibi said. “We said from the beginning that the mountain laboured and brought forth a mouse.”

The security crackdown extended beyond party activists to media personnel. Abd Abu Shahadeh, a journalist and political activist, was arrested on Tuesday night by the Israeli police and the domestic security service, the Shin Bet.

Sami Abu Shehadeh, the chairman of the Balad Party, another member of the Joint List, called it an attempt by Netanyahu to “steal the elections”.

Human rights and Israeli affairs expert Mustafa Ibrahim argued that Netanyahu’s approach is deeply rooted in discriminatory state policy.

Ibrahim pointed to the treatment of Palestinians in Israel since the formation of the state in 1948 – when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced out of their homes in the Nakba – including the period of military rule that was imposed on them until 1966.

Palestinian citizens of Israel have always been viewed as a “fifth column”, Ibrahim said, “and they are described as enemies of the state.”

Tibi emphasised that the suppression of Palestinian rights in Israel was part of a broader ongoing pattern.

“Political intimidation began on October 7 itself, when celebrities from our community were summoned for investigation simply for liking a post or writing a Quranic verse whose interpretation was distorted,” Tibi told Al Jazeera, referring to the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.

He added that the decision in late September by the Israeli electoral committee to disqualify the Palestinian-led parties from the elections – later overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court – was part of that campaign.

“The tools multiplied and the goal is one, which is indeed to intimidate us from political work as candidates and voters,” Tibi said.

The political pressure from Netanyahu and his allies has engulfed Israeli state institutions. According to The Jerusalem Post, Shin Bet Director David Zini requested to interrogate senior Palestinian lawmakers, including Tibi and United Arab List leader Mansour Abbas, over foreign interference claims. Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara explicitly denied the request, leading to attacks from Netanyahu’s Likud party.

Abbas dismissed the allegations, calling the investigation reports as attempts to “smear the Arab public” and were unacceptable.

“I and all members of the United Arab List are not afraid of any investigation and are prepared to appear before any law enforcement authority,” Abbas said, provided the process is conducted under the attorney general and judicial system.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has demanded Baharav-Miara’s removal.

“Slowly but surely, they came to understand that this is a legal advisor who tried to incriminate a minister, tried to incriminate me, and ordered the Shin Bet chief to follow me and act against me. Just for that alone, she should have been sent home,” Ben-Gvir wrote on social media.

Abu Amer said that this was an example of Netanyahu avoiding direct confrontation and instead utilising figures like Ben-Gvir to carry out these tasks. “The attack on the Attorney-General is part of a systematic campaign, not a spontaneous one,” Abu Amer noted.

Ibrahim highlighted that this political incitement occurs against a backdrop of systemic racism.

“The targeting of the national minority with intimidation campaigns has been supported by the head of the government and the head of the state during the past few years,” Ibrahim said, adding that this came in the context of the killing of more than 190 people in Palestinian communities in Israel and in occupied East Jerusalem this year in violence that continues to ravage the community, and is partly blamed on a lack of policing and government funding.

The Palestinian-led parties are now focused on using their increased number of seats in parliament to address that issue, and others facing their community, while facing off against Netanyahu and his allies.

“In the past, they were annoyed by our patriotism only; today, they fear our influence. We hope it will actually backfire,” Tibi said. “The direct practical step is to overthrow them politically, and this comes through several procedures, operations, and a parliamentary step. But we will not stop at overthrowing them, rather we will work to improve the reality for the better.”