Full speech: Yoav Segalovitz joins Arab party Ra’am with hopes for ‘a shared future’

The following is the full text of a speech delivered Monday evening by former senior police official and ex-Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz announcing his unprecedented decision to run with the Islamist Ra’am party in the upcoming national election: After a long period of deliberation and many conversations with Dr. Mansour Abbas, I decided that the right thing to do is to take action — to join Ra’am’s list. In particular at this time, amid the social polarization between Jews and Arabs. Ra’am wants to be part of taking action. I am Jewish, a Zionist, secular, an officer in the IDF and a commissioner in the Israel Police. Mansour is Arab, a religious Muslim and a conservative. What connects the two of us is that we are all Israelis, and that is our shared identity. The term “Israeli” has lost some of its luster, and we are continuously occupied with ethnic distinctions that divide us instead of what unites us. The Arab population in Israel makes up 21 percent [of the population] — active and productive, in industry, the economy, culture, education and medicine. It is an engine of economic and social growth. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Newsletter email address Get it By signing up, you agree to the terms Yes, there are differences between us, there is a complicated history between Arabs and Jews in this country. But there is a shared future. That shared future exists in every area of life. Ra’am party chief Mansour Abbas (right) arrives at a press conference with new party member Yoav Segalovitz in Nazareth, August 31, 2026. (Michael Giladi/FLASH90) The future model for the State of Israel that I see before me is a model familiar to anyone who enters the doors of an Israeli hospital. There, a person sheds the narratives and identities they carry. There, first and foremost, human beings meet. Patients, doctors, nurses, administrative staff, families — everyone is equal. That is the place where we are all human beings, and that is where we will begin. This is also how I see the future of the State of Israel, a future that I envision clearly and distinctly. What guides me is the Zionist, values-based Jewish worldview from which I draw my convictions. Advertisement The Declaration of Independence is a compass, not just a text written on a wall. The Declaration of Independence states: The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its citizens​​ irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. For me, these are the principles I believe in, and the principles on which I am coming. Can all the parties that call themselves Zionist sign this declaration today? I am far from certain. Yoav Segalovitz (left) with then Israel Police chief Yohanan Danino at the High Court of Justice, December 5, 2011. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90) Can political cooperation be created between people who are so different? I think it can. I do not intend to change Mansour or Ra’am, and they will not change me, but it is possible to cooperate politically on the basis of trust, recognition of our differences, and a commitment to working together. Advertisement The current government has brought the State of Israel to intolerable places in every area of life: rampant crime, a lack of personal security for all citizens, certainly for the country’s Arab citizens, whom the government has no interest in at all. As someone who served in the previous government and worked to combat crime, I know that things can be done differently, with cooperation between all state authorities and local authorities, but the condition for that is for someone to actually care. Education is at a low point, particularly in Arab society. The same is true of welfare, healthcare, employment, transportation and more. Teacher Hussam Nmir checks a classroom at Saint George’s School in East Jerusalem, September 1, 2026, as Christian schools in Jerusalem suspend classes after Israeli authorities did not renew work permits for teachers and staff from the West Bank. (AP/Mahmoud Illean) It is impossible to lead a process of repairing the country without connection — including political connection. The lines that have been drawn in political discourse are unacceptable to us. They have been drawn through exclusion, incitement and racism. The common assertion — that after October 7 it is impossible to establish a political partnership with Arab parties — is absurd and false. Arab Israelis experienced the war, and in the horrific October 7 attack more than 34 members of the Arab community were killed, and Arab citizens were also kidnapped to Gaza — six members of the Bedouin community in the Negev. Throughout the war, we all — Arabs and Jews — sat in shelters during missile attacks by Iran and Hezbollah. Residents were evacuated from their homes, and Arab citizens were also killed and wounded. Youth walk next to a shelter damaged from shrapnel at a soccer field that was hit by a rocket, killing multiple children and teenagers, in the Druze town of Majdal Shams, in the Golan Heights, July 27, 2024. (AP/Leo Correa) The political dividing lines were drawn by extremists and became an accepted political norm across all parties. I do not accept this premise. Advertisement The time for repairing the country is also [a time to repair] internal-social rifts. Twenty-one percent of the citizens are part of that repair. Arab society, with all its diversity and differences, is an engine of economic, social and cultural growth for the State of Israel. It is not a threat, it is an opportunity for the State of Israel and also a bridge to its neighbors. We are in an election period, but my intention, in joining Ra’am, goes far beyond any election. Politics is a means for change. I want to build a real political bridge. Even if there are problems, and there will be. There will be difficulties, and even if it [the bridge] is shaky or unsteady, it will be built and will be a basis for continued political action, which I hope many good people, Jews and Arabs, will continue. Ra’am party chairman Mansour Abbas (center right) holds a joint press conference with former Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz (center left), who will run on the Ra’am slate in October’s election, in Nazareth, August 31, 2026. (Michael Giladi/FLASH90) There are residues of the past, there is a bloody history in relations in this country, there are different narratives, and this is all of our past. We can’t change the past because it is an existing fact. The State of Israel is a Jewish and democratic state, and it is our obligation to look toward the future and draw it in color, to leave marks on it. Every person will hold on to their position on the past [as well as] the obligation to create a shared future. It is not enough to draw and to talk, we need to take action. The role of leadership is to change reality and create a better future. Two central feelings drive people’s actions. The first is fear, and the second is hope. The political system uses fear to bring audiences together. We want to offer hope. We only need to lift our heads and see that it exists. Advertisement We decided that we are doing something even if it is difficult and includes criticism from many directions. Our progress comes from understanding our differences, not from similarity and identity. But there is a central issue we share: advancing society in Israel, repairing and changing all areas of life: Fighting crime, healthcare, welfare, planning and construction, and all the areas on which we agree. Protesters demonstrate in Haifa demanding police act against surging violent crime in Arab society on February 10, 2026. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel) The partnership is based on trust and an understanding of our differences. We are not ignoring them, but we cannot allow the past to dictate the future. Yes, I explicitly want to break the paradigm of the dividing lines and the lines of discourse. Yes, I also want to break the paradigm of how political partnership is created. I am not joining Ra’am with a faction, I am personally joining Ra’am. Some will say this is a political weakness, but from my perspective, there is greater power and strength here. I call on Jews, Arabs, Muslims, Christians and Druze to put their trust in this move and join us. I thank my friend Mansour Abbas for opening a door to Ra’am for me to be part of its list for the upcoming Knesset. In the poem “Gan Na’ul” (“A Locked Garden”) by the poet Rachel [Bluwstein], there is a line that repeatedly echoes in my head, in different contexts. Now as well, this line has echoed during the long months in which I deliberated over the move that we are completing today: “Who are you? Why does an extended hand not meet a sister hand?” Help us report truthfully on social media As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos. This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world. If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism , please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. 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