Thousands rally in Tel Aviv urging coalition with Arab parties

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that thousands of Israelis demonstrated in central Tel Aviv today, calling for the formation of a coalition government that includes Arab parties, amid intense political activity and preparations for the Israeli legislative elections.

Protesters carried banners and chanted slogans urging political partnership with the Arab minority in any future government coalition, aiming to break the current political polarization.

Meanwhile, the leader of the far-right Israeli party Otzma Yehudit, Itamar Ben-Gvir, met yesterday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss preventing the opposition from forming a government.

According to the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the two held an extended meeting to discuss "ways to preserve the right-wing government and prevent the formation of a left-wing government supported by those they described as supporters of terrorism."

Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir fear that the Jewish opposition could form a government with the backing of Arab parties, after neither Netanyahu's bloc nor the opposition's "change" bloc secured the 61-seat majority needed to form a government.