00:00For Arab citizens in Israel, voting has become a matter of urgency.
00:04In Shefa Amr, a city in northern Israel, local Arab community leaders and activists have gathered to talk strategy.
00:11Voter turnout in the Arab population in the last Israeli elections was just around 50%.
00:17Among those attending is Nihal Abu Johar.
00:22As Palestinians, we are going through a period of severe discrimination.
00:25We have a government that constantly seeks to undermine us and exclude us in many areas,
00:31while at the same time we can war against our Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.
00:37There are just over 2 million Arab Israelis, most of which identify as Palestinian.
00:43They make up around one-fifth of the country's total population.
00:48In the polls, both Netanyahu's and his main challenger Gadi Eisenkot's bloc are short of a majority in the Knesset.
00:54That could make our parties king-makers.
00:57The more votes they get, the greater their leverage.
01:00Nihal wants to make sure young people are among them.
01:03Her project Kadaya and Shefa Amr relies on them to mobilize each other.
01:08Our aim is to recruit young people and give them the political and social information they need
01:13to take part in our door-to-door campaign.
01:19She believes young people will be more inclined to vote this time around.
01:24Someone who is 18 today has witnessed every phase of change in Palestinian society inside Israel
01:29and at the same time witnessed a genocide in Gaza.
01:33And the political persecution that followed the genocide was very significant and tangible.
01:38So, I am hopeful.
01:41For now, voters are focused on domestic issues as their main priority.
01:45At the center of their concerns is crime.
01:48Violence in Israel's Arab society reached a record high in 2025, with 252 recorded murders.
01:55The crisis has continued to escalate through 2026, with little action by the police,
02:01which is run by far-right minister Itamar Ben Gbeer.
02:03Few Arab citizens expect major change, but many hope a new government would at least address
02:08some of their concerns, says Haaretz journalist Chuck Khoury.
02:13I don't think we're in a struggle of right and left.
02:16We're facing a fascist right against a liberal and less extreme right.
02:20And the idea of a two-state solution seems farther off than ever,
02:24a reflection, too, of the political climate among Jewish-Israeli voters.
02:30The whole issue of defining a Palestinian state, a political horizon for Palestinians,
02:34is seen today as an element that scares off voters.
02:37The feeling is that after October 7th, you can't give the Palestinians a prize.
02:41After everything you did to us, you'll get a state.
02:47Ahead of the elections, the government tried to ban Arab parties from participating.
02:52The Supreme Court struck down the attempt, but recommended a main Arab candidate withdrawal.
02:56A warning sign of where the country could be heading.
03:00A recent survey suggests a third of Jewish Israelis don't think Arab citizens should be allowed to vote.
