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Yair Golan Says an Arab Party Can Join the Next Government, Hours After Bloc Pact

Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of four Israeli army officers in short-sleeved olive uniforms seated along a long wooden conference table, Yair Golan, then a major general commanding the IDF Home Front Command, second from left and smiling, facing two U.S. emergency-management officials in dark suits, drawn from an archival June 2009 photograph of a meeting at FEMA headquarters in Washington; a contextual image of Golan, now chairman of the Democrats, not a depiction of his September 2026 radio interview, the change-bloc pact or any Arab party.

Democrats chairman Yair Golan said in a radio interview Sunday morning that an Arab party can be part of the next government, calling it "natural, correct, proper and democratic." He said his party backs Jewish-Arab partnership and that the 21% of Israel's citizens who are Arab deserve fair representation. Asked about Avigdor Liberman, Gadi Eisenkot and Naftali Bennett, who have said they will not form a government relying on an Arab party, including Ra'am, Golan said he thinks they do support it and cited the earlier government with Ra'am. The Democrats later said his remarks reflected the party's position and that the issue did not come up at Saturday night's change-bloc meeting.

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