As the results of Israel’s elections started to become clear late on Tuesday, fireworks streaked the night sky in Taibe, a predominantly Arab town in the middle of the country, where cheering crowds were soon in the streets.
For Israel’s two main Arab-led parties, Raam and the Joint List, it was a watershed in the political life of the country. Both are collectively set to take more seats in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, than in any other election.
That has electrified the working-class town of Taibe, where more than 80 percent of residents voted this week. “We should now translate that result into making real improvements in our lives,” said Amir Hajj Yahya, 30, who had gathered with friends outside a burger joint on Wednesday night.
And yet, while Taibe was celebrating, the reaction in other parts of Israel was very different. Some members of the opposition were quick to rule out joining forces with Arab parties to form a government. Influential television pundits rushed to warn against the possibility that the Arab parties could have a hand in future government policy on security and foreign affairs.
For many Arab citizens, the response has underscored what they say is the unwillingness in much of Israeli society to give them a say in the country’s future, and some fear the vote may prove futile. “This reaction is proof of racist attitudes we’re facing,” said Shadi Hajj Yahya, 34, a truck driver in Taibe.
Noreen al-Nashef, 52, a lawyer from the town, said she was worried that, despite the high Arab voter turnout, it would not lead to the Arab parties’ having influence over the government and its decision-making.
“What we’ve heard is disappointing,” she said, referring to the reaction from other parts of Israeli society. “What value does my vote have?”
Home to 47,500 people, Taibe is a microcosm of the Arab community in Israel and the frustrations Arab citizens face. Like many Arab-majority towns, there is a problem with gun violence, and the Israeli authorities have demolished homes that were built without permission, which local officials say can be difficult to get.
Residents have also become increasingly alarmed by the inflammatory rhetoric of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies against Israel’s Arab citizens. In the run-up to this week’s vote, he warned without evidence that Arab citizens of Israel were “trying to steal the election.”
Arab voters poured into polling stations across Israel in high numbers this week — a turnout that many in Taibe attributed to the desire to oust Mr. Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners.
Some said they hoped that a new government would address the problems in their communities, as well as those of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, amid widespread Israeli settler violence. Despite the muted reaction from the opposition to the Arab parties’ historic win, most residents interviewed on Wednesday said they still believed that they would eventually come around.
“When they need the Arabs, they’ll come to us,” said Reda Hajj Yahya, 40, the brother of Amir at the burger cafe, adding that it was still early days since the vote.
Most voters in Taibe opted for the Joint List, an alliance of three smaller parties that includes a joint Jewish-Arab leftist faction and a Palestinian nationalist faction. It is seen as more antagonistic toward Zionism than the other main Arab party, Raam, and its lawmakers have long been on the sidelines of Israeli politics, with little influence on decision making. Now, they’ve extended their hand to the main opposition bloc in hopes of ousting the prime minister.
“We’re ready to swallow frogs to take down Netanyahu’s government,” said Ahmad Tibi, 67, a veteran lawmaker and a top leader in the Joint List, who has served in the Knesset since 1999. The Joint List is prepared to make concessions to other parties in the opposition that it had not considered before, and Arab voters were behind them, Mr. Tibi said, sitting in his wood-paneled office in Taibe.
When pressed on what those concessions might be, he declined to say. But they would do “almost anything” except “convert to Judaism,” he added with a smile.
Across town, Ashraf Jaber, 51, was drinking coffee on a busy traffic roundabout strung with banners for the Joint List. He said his community was hungry for change.
“We want the ability to build homes and to live without violence,” Mr. Jaber said. “We want no wars, and we’re against Oct. 7,” he added, referring to the 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that ignited the war in Gaza.
Everyone, he said, deserves to live “a dignified life,” including Jews and Arabs, and the election offered his community a chance to improve its lot. “We need to take advantage of it,” he said.
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