Abbas Partners with Former Police Chief Segalovitz to Boost Raam’s Election Prospects

The leader of Israel’s Islamist political party, Raam, Mansour Abbas, has worked hard to persuade the country’s Jewish majority of his value to a future government, even as most Jewish lawmakers continue to oppose Arab parties joining coalitions.

On Monday, Mr. Abbas took a bold step toward broader acceptance by naming a prominent figure from the Zionist establishment, Yoav Segalovitz, to a top position on Raam’s candidate list. Mr. Segalovitz brings a résumé that includes service as an Israeli paratrooper, a long‑time police commander, and a former deputy minister of national security.

The appointment marks a historic moment for Israeli politics. Until now, only fringe Jewish politicians—such as Communists—have joined Arab parties. Mr. Segalovitz, a veteran of Yesh Atid, a centrist Zionist party, is the first mainstream figure to receive such a role.

The move could also be decisive in the upcoming October election. Without Raam’s support, opposition parties may lack enough parliamentary seats to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

At a time when Israeli political discourse often veers toward overt or thinly veiled racism—Netanyahu and allies regularly denounce Mr. Abbas as an enemy of the state—the partnership between Mr. Abbas and Mr. Segalovitz evokes an anachronistic vision of Jewish‑Arab coexistence.

“There are people who are afraid of partnership,” Mr. Abbas said in Nazareth, Israel’s second‑largest Arab‑majority city, introducing his new ally. “Raam is not afraid of partnership. Raam advances it.”

Securing the No. 2 spot on Raam’s list virtually guarantees Mr. Segalovitz a parliamentary seat. Polls generally forecast that Raam will win five or more seats in the next Knesset.

The two lawmakers previously served together in the 2021‑2022 coalition led first by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and then briefly by Prime Minister Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid. That government marked the first time an Arab lawmaker joined an Israeli governing coalition, with Mr. Abbas playing a key role.

As deputy national security minister, Mr. Segalovitz oversaw efforts to curb the soaring crime rate in Arab communities, targeting criminal organizations and achieving a 16 percent drop in homicides and a 30 percent reduction in shootings. Despite not speaking Arabic, he became highly popular among Arab citizens, who constitute roughly one‑fifth of the population.

Crime in Arab areas resurged after Mr. Netanyahu’s return to power and the appointment of Itamar Ben‑Gvir, an extremist anti‑Arab politician, as police minister. So far this year, a record 168 Arab citizens have been killed, according to the Abraham Initiative, surpassing the total for all of 2025.

Mr. Segalovitz, who spent 28 years in law enforcement and founded the police’s anticorruption and major‑crime unit (Lahav 433), now says he hopes to become national security minister and continue his crime‑fighting agenda.

“The current government has brought the State of Israel to intolerable places in every sphere of life,” he said Monday night. “Rampant crime, a lack of personal security for all citizens, and certainly for the country’s Arab citizens, in whom the government has no interest whatsoever.”

Mr. Abbas emphasized that crime in the Arab sector endangers all Israelis. “The organizations that collect protection money from an Arab grocery‑store owner also collect it from a Jewish garage owner,” he said. “This is not the Arabs’ problem. This is the country’s problem.”

Mr. Abbas first broke an invisible barrier when he joined the Bennett‑Lapid coalition in 2021. However, the Hamas‑led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 intensified Jewish hostility toward Arabs, forcing Mr. Abbas to re‑prove his stance repeatedly.

He has consistently condemned Hamas and the Oct. 7 assault, urging the immediate release of Israeli hostages. Additionally, he has transformed Raam by severing formal ties with the Islamic movement and opening its membership to Israelis of all religions.

Raam hopes that recruiting Mr. Segalovitz will resonate with both Arab and Jewish voters, according to Thair Abu Ras, an expert on Israel’s Arab political parties at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. “Raam is here telling the Arab community—we actually want to solve your problems,” he said. “Raam’s message to the Jewish community is: ‘We’re moderates.’”

Many Jewish Israelis have traditionally viewed Arab parties with suspicion or outright hostility, believing they prioritize the Palestinian cause. By bringing in a former senior police officer from mainstream Israeli politics, Raam aims to prove its further moderation and signal that voters should have no issue including the party in the next government.

For his part, Mr. Abbas downplayed the desire to join a new government as the reason for the alliance with Mr. Segalovitz. He described it as a pragmatic move to leverage Mr. Segalovitz’s expertise.

“They will say to me, ‘What does an Arab need with a Jewish police major general?’ And they will say to him, ‘What is a Jewish police major general looking for with the Arabs?’” Mr. Abbas said. “My answer is simple. I am not looking for someone who is like me. I am looking for someone who knows how to do the job.”

Heedo Abu Laban, Aaron Boxerman and Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting.

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