A new opinion poll has suggested that Palestinian parties could hold the balance of power in Israel's next election , with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition nor Israel's main opposition parties projected to secure a parliamentary majority without their support.
The Channel 12 poll projected Netanyahu's coalition would win 52 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while opposition parties such as Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid and Benny Gantz's Blue and White would secure 58 - leaving both short of the 61-seat threshold required to form a government.
The remaining 10 seats would be held by the Arab and leftist parties Hadash-Ta'al and Ra'am, potentially making them kingmakers if the polling is borne out.
Speaking to The New Arab , Ofer Cassif, a Jewish Israeli member of the Israeli parliament from the left-wing Hadash party, which forms part of the Hadash-Ta'al alliance, urged caution over interpreting the figures, saying Israeli opinion polls have repeatedly failed to accurately predict election outcomes.
"I have always been very sceptical towards the polls," he said. "I don't remember even one poll that was clearly accurate. So I'm very sceptical, but we have no other tools at the moment."
If the numbers do hold, Cassif believes the anti-Netanyahu camp would face three broad choices: seek an accommodation with Likud or the ultra-Orthodox parties, force another election, or rely on Arab parties to secure a governing majority.
However, the numbers themselves are not the biggest obstacle. Rather, it is the continued refusal of much of the Zionist opposition to govern with Palestinian parties, despite the possibility they may ultimately need their support.
"They say, 'We will not rely on Arabs.' Apart from the racist aroma of those sayings, it's also stupid as far as political realism is concerned," Cassif said. "If they don't have enough seats, what are they going to do?"
He argued that opposition leaders were caught in a "vicious circle", reinforcing anti-Palestinian sentiment rather than challenging it.
"They feel... that the majority of the Israeli Jewish population reject any idea of cooperation with the Arabs. But once they say that explicitly, they actually encourage that. It's a vicious circle."
Despite his criticism of opposition figures including Naftali Bennett, Gadi Eisenkot and Yair Lapid, Cassif said Hadash would be prepared to support a non-Netanyahu government, even one led by parties with whom it has profound ideological differences.
"Removing Netanyahu is a must. There's no way that we support Netanyahu and one of his allies. One thousand percent. No way," he said.
"We are ready to do things that perhaps we haven't done before in order to get rid of this fascist genocidal government," he added.
"If we have to choose between a conservative right-wing and a fascist right-wing, unfortunately, we will endorse the first in order to get rid of the second."
Cassif argued that the decisive factor in the next election may not be movement between the Israeli opposition parties but turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel, whom he described as "the game changer".
"Everybody knows that the game changer is going to be the turnout of the Palestinian citizens," he said.
He argued that a reunited Joint List, bringing together Hadash, Ta'al, Balad and Ra'am, could substantially increase Arab turnout, while further fragmentation would likely depress participation.
However, he acknowledged such a reunion remained uncertain, saying Ra'am currently appeared to have little incentive to rejoin the alliance.
Looking beyond the electoral arithmetic, Cassif argued Israel's political deadlock would persist unless mainstream Zionist parties became willing to treat Arab parties as legitimate governing partners.
"I think among the so-called Zionist centre and left, the only list that is explicitly in favour of cooperating with the Arab representatives is the Democrats," he said.
"Apart from them, there is a kind of competition... to compete more against Arabs... because unfortunately that's the racist hegemonic discourse at the moment."
For Cassif, the latest polling does not guarantee Arab parties will become kingmakers.
Rather, he argues, they can only play that role if Israel's mainstream opposition is prepared to abandon its longstanding reluctance to rely on Palestinian parties in government.