History made as Arab-Israeli party joins governing coalition
Ra'am becomes first Arab party to join Israeli government in half a century
The leader of the Islamist Ra'am party, Mansour Abbas, made Israeli political history Wednesday by signing an agreement that will allow him to sit in the new Israeli government.
"This is the first time that an Arab party has been part of the process of forming a government. We hope that it will work and that a government will be established after four rounds of elections," Abbas told reporters at a hotel in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv.
Abbas also said he had agreed with the new government a number of policies and budgets relating to Arab Israeli society.
"We have reached a critical mass of agreements in various areas that serve the interests of Arab society and provide solutions to its burning problems - planning, the housing crisis and, of course, combating violence and organized crime,” he said.
According to a recent statement by the Islamist party, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid promised Ra’am NIS 2.5 million ($769,547) to fight violence and organized crime in Arab society.
In addition, NIS 20 million ($6,156,839) will be invested over the next 10 years to repair crumbling infrastructure in Arab towns and villages.
Even before Ra'am announced his signing, Lapid's nascent coalition was widely seen as the most ideologically diverse in the country's history, uniting left and right parties to notably oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power.
To get there, Yamina chief Bennett and centrist Yesh Atid leader Lapid agreed to a rotation plan, with Bennett becoming prime minister for the first two years.