TEL AVIV, Israel—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political surrogates have sought to smear Arab-led political parties in the Israeli parliament for years. They’ve portrayed them as a fifth column, petitioned to disqualify their candidates, demonized center-left politicians who would cooperate with them, and accused Arab polling workers of voter fraud.
But after Israel’s fourth election in two years left Netanyahu and the Israeli opposition deadlocked with no clear majority, the prime minister’s allies have been quietly courting the United Arab List, an Islamist party commonly known by the Hebrew acronym Raam, which emerged from the vote as a potential swing faction between the two blocs.
