Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas and former Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz confirmed on Thursday that they are holding discussions regarding the Jewish politician’s potential membership in the Islamist party.

In a joint statement, the pair announced that they “met today and discussed in a good and positive spirit the possibility of Segalovitz joining the Ra’am slate in the upcoming Knesset election” on October 27, adding that their discussions would continue.

A former senior police officer, Segalovitz established the police Lahav 433 unit to fight serious crime and is a former commander of the police’s Investigations and Intelligence Division. He has been credited with helping reduce crime in Arab Israeli communities during his tenure as deputy minister for public security in the previous government headed by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. Segalovitz submitted his resignation letter to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana on Sunday, and announced his exit from Yesh Atid several days before that.

Rumors of Segalovitz’s contacts with Abbas have been circulating for weeks, with a recent television poll showing that if the former Yesh Atid lawmaker joined Ra’am, the party would pick up two more seats, going from five to an unprecedented seven.

He intends to take the No 2 spot on Ra’am’s ticket, a source from the Arab community close to Segalovitz told the Haaretz daily last month, which would make him very likely to return to the Knesset.

He reportedly does not intend to join any party unless it recognizes Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and supports national civilian service – an alternative to the military draft........

© The Times of Israel