Prof. Sammy Smooha to IMRA: There is today no viable Arab leadership that
may dare to form a party that declares intention to join a coalition
government

From: Dr. Aaron Lerner [mailto:imra@netvision.net.il]
Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2020 10:16 PM
To: Prof. Sammy Smooha
Subject: Question for you from IMRA

Dear Prof. Sammy Smooha,

It has been argued that if the 3.25% threshold was reduced significantly
today that it is likely that an Israel Arab party would emerge which would
explicitly campaign in the next elections as a party that intends to join
the government.

As an expert on Israeli Arab views and trends I would like to share your
take on this idea with IMRA readers.

Thanks.

Best regards
Aaron
Dr. Aaron Lerner
www.imra.org.il
-----Original Message-----
From: Prof. Sammy Smooha
Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2020 11:03 PM
To: Dr. Aaron Lerner
Subject: RE: Question for you from IMRA

Dear Dr. Lerner,

According to my understanding, the reduction of the 3.25% threshold will
make no difference for Arabs. For many years the Arabs have supported the
idea of a united Arab list to run in Knesset elections. The forcible
formation of the United List was welcome by the Arab public. The Arabs
heavily punished the Arab parties which dismantled the Joint List and ran in
two lists in the Knesset elections of April 2019: the turnout dropped from
63.5% in 2015 (with the Joint List) to 49.5% in April 2019, the Arab vote
to Arab parties dropped from 83.2% to 71.6%, and the number of seats won by
Arab parties dropped from 13 to 10. The Arabs' great support of the Joint
List was reflected in the March 2020 elections when it won 15 seats.

There is today no viable Arab leadership that may dare to form a party that
declares intention to join a coalition government although this idea is
supported by the majority of the Arabs. The victorious Joint List with 15
seats will smash any attempt to form such an Arab party and to compete with
it for Arab votes.

All the best to you, Sammy Smooha

Prof. Sammy Smooha
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
University of Haifa
199 Sderot Abba Hushi, Mount Carmel
Haifa 3498838 Israel
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