Former MK Yousef Jabareen elected leader of Arab-majority party Hadash |
Former MK Yousef Jabareen was overwhelmingly elected leader of the Arab-majority Hadash party in internal primaries on Saturday, winning 82% of the vote, according to the party. He will become the faction’s first new chairman in over a decade, as Arab parties face mounting pressure to unite ahead of the upcoming elections.
The legal scholar and longtime Hadash activist will replace current chairman Ayman Odeh, who has led the party since 2015. Odeh did not seek reelection and will resign at the end of the current Knesset term. Jabareen previously served in the Knesset from 2015 to 2021.
After thanking voters for their trust, Jabareen focused his remarks mainly on a call to re-establish the Joint List of Arab parties, saying this was “what the moment demands, and what our public is calling for.
“I call on all members of the Joint List to rally and move forward in negotiations, and become an influential and decisive political force,” Jabareen said in a statement.
Hadash has championed re-establishing the Joint List, which was first formed in 2015, and which at its peak in 2020 won 15 seats in the Knesset, in order to maximize the Arab community’s political power.
In January, Hadash, the Islamist United Arab List (Ra’am), secularist Ta’al and nationalist Balad signed an agreement committing to work toward a joint run. But more than four months later, negotiations have yielded little progress. With the Arab public seeking government resources to fight an unprecedented wave of deadly crime plaguing their communities, grassroots pressure has mounted for the revival of the Joint List.
לאחר ספירת תוצאות הסיבוב הראשון:מועצת חד״ש בחרה בד״ר יוסף ג׳בארין למקום הראשון ולראשות רשימתה לכנסת. pic.twitter.com/vEL4jGciK4 — חד״ש Hadash (@Hadash_org) May 16,........