Mansour Abbas gives Yoav Segalovich second place on Ra'am list
Mansour Abbas, chairman of Israel’s Arab party Ra'am, has given former senior police officer and Yesh Atid politician Yoav Segalovich second place on the electoral list. Segalovich is set to become the first Jewish candidate to hold the second position on Ra'am’s list.
As The Jerusalem Post writes, Segalovich will not join Ra'am. The arrangement stipulates that he will be able to vote independently on issues of religion and state, security, and LGBT rights, and will also promote civil service in Arab society.
Return to government
The outlet notes that Abbas has openly stated his intention to return Ra'am to the government. In his assessment, the party’s five or six mandates could affect the prospects of forming a coalition after the election, including the decisions of Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, and Avigdor Lieberman.
Segalovich previously served as deputy minister of public security, holds the rank of police major general, and was a member of Yesh Atid for a long time. He is associated with the “Safe Path” program and the fight against crime in Arab society. According to an internal Ra'am poll among 750 Arab citizens, 75% of respondents named him the Jewish politician who best understands their needs.
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At an early stage of the negotiations, the possibility of nominating Segalovich for the post of national security minister was discussed. However, according to The Jerusalem Post, Abbas chose a different format: not to demand a ministerial portfolio for him, but to focus on a role combating crime and violence.
Political risks
In June, Ra'am opposed a purely technical joint list of Arab parties without an agreement on cooperation after the election and without a commitment to support a candidate alternative to Benjamin Netanyahu. Abbas is now himself promoting a technical alliance, but with a Jewish politician.
In the election, Ra'am will face the renewed joint list of Hadash, Ta'al, and Balad, which have already agreed to run together. The Jerusalem Post believes that Abbas’s rivals may criticize him for diluting the identity of the party associated with the Islamic Movement. The outlet also suggests that Likud may use the Abbas-Segalovich alliance to claim that a possible government led by Eisenkot, Bennett, and Lieberman would depend on Ra'am’s support.
