Is the irony of that statement not obvious?

MK stands for Member of Knesset (i.e. Parliament/Congress) and Ahmed Tibi is not Jewish.

Arabs haven't had a real say in how the country is governed--never been a member of any coalition.

of cabinets in Israeli government, and have been part of ruling coalition. For example the United Arab List was part of Rabin's coalition in 1974. Additionally, Arabs have been part of ruling coalitions as members of the ruling party, mainly Alignment/Labor.

Most of the time they have refused to join any coalitions, despite invitations to do so. So who is to blame for that?

In fact the JAL has already refused to join any coalition with the current Knesset, despite the fact that if they backed a Herzog led government, it would give him a very stable base from which to form a coalition, and would also enable Herzog to rule without having to rely on Shas or UTJ for support.

Finally, Arab parties have supported coalitions, without officially joining them, thereby stabilizing them.

1) Rabin's 1974 coalition consisted of Alignment, Independent Liberals, Ratz, and National Religious Party. What's more, the original United Arab List was established in 1977, and dissolved four years later.

2) Arab parties have never been asked to join a ruling coalition. Ever. You can't reject what isn't offered. It'd be kind of stupid to run for government office and then snub the opportunity to gain it.

3) the modern Joint List has not refused to join a coalition - because of course they haven't been asked into one. In fact Odeh has stated they will take a wait and see approach, if the task of forming government falls to Herzog and he asks.

So, three lies. Why are these three lies being told? Well, I have no idea about your motivation - i'll assume, for the sake of grace, that you're just repeatign something you've been told. But the reason these lies are being put out there in the first place, is to try to blame Arabs for their own disenfranchisement. of course, it can't be hte inherent and systemic rcism against Arabs conducted by israeli politics. it has to be that Arabs are too fucking stupid to know how Israel's governmetn works.

I don't suppose you've ever been "fortunate" enough to read old history books from southern states, have you? In the mid-90's I took an Alabama History course, using textbooks printed in 1967 (boy howdy.) In these textbooks, I learned that "black rule" (i.e., black suffrage and political participation during reconstruction) was a failure because 'they weren't smart enough" and "lacked the skills to govern properly." That the restoration of white rule (i.e, the purging of voter rolls, intimidation and murder of black politicians, and dismissal of any ballot for Republicans) was a relief of bad management, corruption, and senselessness!

It's the same sort of argument being thrown at the JAL in Israel, and it's every bit as fictitious. it's being made for the same reaso nas well - to justify ethnocracy and political segregation.