Mansour Abbas Recruits Yoav Segalovitz to Join Raam Party in Israeli Election

The leader of Israel’s Islamist political party, Mansour Abbas, has worked hard to show the country’s Jewish majority that he is worthy of joining the next government, despite a broad consensus among most Jewish lawmakers that Arab parties should not be permitted to do so. On Monday, Mr. Abbas took his boldest step yet to gain acceptance from Israeli Jews: He gave a top spot on the party’s candidate list to a pillar of the Zionist establishment, Yoav Segalovitz, a veteran Israeli paratrooper, career police commander and former deputy minister of national security. It was a milestone in the political life of the country. Until now, only Jews from the fringes of Israeli politics, like Communists, had belonged to Arab parties. Mr. Segalovitz had been a member of Yesh Atid, an avowedly centrist Zionist party. It could also turn out to be a crucial turning point. Without the support of Mr. Abbas’s Raam party — the Hebrew acronym for the United Arab List — opposition leaders may not have enough seats in Parliament to drive Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power after this October’s election. Moreover, at a time when much of Israeli political discourse ranges from thinly veiled racist appeals to brazen ones — Mr. Netanyahu and his allies regularly denounce Mr. Abbas as an enemy of the state and a terrorist — the attempt by Mr. Abbas and Mr. Segalovitz to build a bridge between Arabs and Jews evoked seemingly anachronistic ideals of coexistence. “There are people who are afraid of partnership,” Mr. Abbas said in introducing his new partner in Nazareth, Israel’s second-largest Arab-majority city. “There are parties that are afraid of partnership. They are afraid of what people will say, afraid of what they will lose. Raam is not afraid of partnership. Raam advances it.” We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in . Want all of The Times? Subscribe .