Mansour Abbas, the Ra'am chairman, and Yoav Segalovitz, until recently a Yesh Atid MK, issued a joint statement saying they had met and discussed in a good and positive spirit the possibility of Segalovitz joining the Ra'am slate for the election on 27 October, and that the talks would continue. The slot under discussion is second on the list.
Segalovitz is not a symbolic recruit. He built Lahav 433, commanded the police investigations and intelligence division, and served as deputy public security minister under the Bennett and Lapid government, where he was credited with bringing crime down in Arab communities. He left the Knesset and Yesh Atid this month. His conditions are that the party recognise Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and back a national civilian service as an alternative to the draft for Arab citizens.
No Jewish candidate has run on an Arab party list before. A television poll suggests it would take Ra'am from five seats to seven, which matters in an arithmetic where both blocs have been stuck below 61 for months. The larger effect would be on legitimacy: the objection to counting Ra'am has never been about its seats.
Otzma Yehudit responded that Abbas is using Segalovitz to reach the National Security Ministry, ease conditions for detained terrorists, stop demolitions of Arab homes and turn the Negev and the Galilee into Islamic territory. Abbas has recognised Israel as a Jewish state, condemned the atrocities of 7 October, said Ra'am would separate from its religious council and announced in January that the party was open to Jewish candidates. This is the first test of whether that was a position or an opening.