Activist Somaya Bashir to run for Democrats’ slate, calls for Arab-Jewish partnership
Bashir aims to become left-wing party’s first Arab candidate, seeks meaningful political influence to tackle violence and inequality, says she didn’t consider joining Arab parties
By Ariela Karmel
Follow9 February 2026, 8:46 pm
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Somaya Bashir speaks during an anti-government protest at Habima Square, Tel Aviv in January, 2026. (Courtesy/ Caroline Dervil)
Arab Israeli activist Somaya Bashir said she is running in primaries for the left-wing Democrats party to advocate for issues facing the Arab community and to advance Arab-Jewish partnership, in a conversation Monday with The Times of Israel.
Bashir announced on her Facebook page Sunday that she would be running in the party’s primaries, making her the left-wing party’s first potential Arab candidate.
A psychologist and longtime activist from the northern village of Jatt, Bashir has established several non-profits, including “We Have No Other Land,” and has been a leader in the non-profit Women Wage Peace and a prominent figure in anti-government activist Moshe Radman’s organization “Anchor for the Future.”
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Radman, who joined the Democrats last month alongside several other activists, celebrated the news, tweeting in response that it was “an honor that she is joining.”
Bashir said that as a hijab-wearing woman from a traditional village, she debated whether she wanted to enter the political fray, knowing the criticism she would face. But at 50, she told the Times of Israel that she has waited long enough.
“I haven’t seen any change, so I decided to do it. If I don’t, nobody else will,” she said.
Leaders of the Arab community, including members of the Knesset, protest against violence in their community outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, on February 8, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)“The Arab community is burning, and nobody is doing anything,” she continued, pointing to the ongoing wave of crime and deadly violence plaguing Arab towns, in addition to a lower quality of life for Arab citizens.
Rampant homicides, mostly related to warring crime groups, have killed 39 people in the Arab community since the start of the year, compared to 30 killings during the same period last year, which itself ended with a record number of homicides in the Arab community at 252.
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Bashir argues that the issues facing the Arab community cannot be separated from the broader state of Israeli democracy and civil equality, which she has also campaigned for, speaking at anti-government rallies in Tel Aviv and elsewhere.
“I’m a citizen of this country. I want to be part of an Arab-Jewish partnership that can deal with problems within Arab society and the whole country, including civil issues, shared security, and democracy,” she said, arguing that the only way to tackle all of these issues was through Arab-Jewish partnership.
If elected, Bashir would be among the few Arab candidates in majority-Jewish parties, and one of the very few non-Druze members (currently, only Druze Arabs serve as MKs in these parties). In recent years, Ibtisam Mara’ana served as a Labor MK from 2021 to 2022 and Esawi Frej was a Meretz MK from 2013 to 2019, and again from 2021 to 2022, when he was briefly regional cooperation minister.
In the current political landscape, Bashir said the left-wing party led by Yair Golan, following last year’s merger between the Labor Party and Meretz, is the only party meaningfully engaging with Arab society.
The Democrats chairman Yair Golan (center, standing), holds a press conference in Tel Aviv to present the party’s new members, January 6, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)She noted that Golan has said the party will demand the public security portfolio in any future government and says it “cares about partnership.”
Bashir said she did not consider joining one of the four Arab-majority parties that recently signed an agreement to work towards running together as the Joint List.
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“That is no way to influence or have power. You need to be part of the system,” she said. While she said she is proud of the Arab parties, she argued they “haven’t helped us be part of the greater society and haven’t advanced” meaningful change.
She wants to have meaningful power and the ability to effect change, which she argued “cannot be done” from outside the government.
The four Arab parties – Hadash, Ra’am, Ta’al, and Balad – signed an agreement to work toward re-establishing the Joint List bloc last month, amid widespread pressure from the Arab community to revive the bloc.
Bashir’s sentiment reflects a growing desire among the Arab public, shown in successive polls, to participate in government, and frustration with the failure of the Arab parties to influence policy from outside of it.
According to polls, a Joint List slate is projected to win between 14 and 16 seats, but leaders of both the current coalition and the opposition bloc have rejected the prospect of a government reliant on Arab parties.
At the same time, while Ra’am is largely open to joining any government, Hadash and Ta’al would likely only be open to considering supporting an anti-Netanyahu bloc, and probably only from the opposition. Balad is opposed to supporting any Zionist-led coalition in any way.
Tal Schneider contributed to this report.
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