<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday he would appoint an Arab Israeli, the first-ever Muslim candidate on the premier's Likud party list, as a minister if the party wins March elections.</p>.<p>"I'm proud that Nail Zoabi, a renowned educator who has given many years to Arab society, is joining the list" of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, the premier said in a video on Facebook.</p>.<p>"I will name him minister for the advancement of Arab society in my government," he said, standing alongside Zoabi.</p>.<p>A caption on the video said it would be "the first time that an Israeli Muslim citizen joins Likud".</p>.<p>Several Druze Arabs have served as Likud MPs.</p>.<p>Netanyahu's announcement coincided with the defection of the Raam movement from the Joint List, a coalition of Arab parties which in the last election in March 2020 had achieved its highest-ever score of 15 seats in the Knesset, Israel's 120-seat legislature.</p>.<p>The conservative Islamic movement's leader Mansour Abbas in December abstained from a vote to dissolve parliament, a move interpreted as a sign of support for Netanyahu and a break with the other Joint List parties.</p>.<p>Netanyahu also recently launched a campaign to win over Arab Israelis, visiting multiple Arab-majority districts in a pre-election overture to a community that has long accused him of racism.</p>.<p>In a polling-day bid to energise right-wing voters in 2015, he warned that Arab Israelis were voting "in droves" and suggested left-wing groups had bussed Arab citizens to polling stations.</p>.<p>In a rare visit to the northern city of Nazareth, the largest Arab city in Israel, Netanyahu promised investment and anti-crime initiatives and apologised for potentially offensive past remarks.</p>.<p>Arab Israelis -- Palestinians who stayed on their land following the Jewish state's creation in 1948, and their descendants -- make up about 20 percent of the country's roughly nine million people.</p>.<p>According to a survey by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), 66 percent of Israeli Arabs see Netanyahu's campaign to seduce them as insincere.</p>.<p>By law, Arab Israelis have rights equal to those of Jewish citizens. But they say that in practice they suffer discrimination in employment, housing, policing and other essentials.</p>.<p>They also point to a 2018 law defining Israel as the "nation state of the Jewish people" and giving Jews a "unique" right to self-determination there.</p>
<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday he would appoint an Arab Israeli, the first-ever Muslim candidate on the premier's Likud party list, as a minister if the party wins March elections.</p>.<p>"I'm proud that Nail Zoabi, a renowned educator who has given many years to Arab society, is joining the list" of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, the premier said in a video on Facebook.</p>.<p>"I will name him minister for the advancement of Arab society in my government," he said, standing alongside Zoabi.</p>.<p>A caption on the video said it would be "the first time that an Israeli Muslim citizen joins Likud".</p>.<p>Several Druze Arabs have served as Likud MPs.</p>.<p>Netanyahu's announcement coincided with the defection of the Raam movement from the Joint List, a coalition of Arab parties which in the last election in March 2020 had achieved its highest-ever score of 15 seats in the Knesset, Israel's 120-seat legislature.</p>.<p>The conservative Islamic movement's leader Mansour Abbas in December abstained from a vote to dissolve parliament, a move interpreted as a sign of support for Netanyahu and a break with the other Joint List parties.</p>.<p>Netanyahu also recently launched a campaign to win over Arab Israelis, visiting multiple Arab-majority districts in a pre-election overture to a community that has long accused him of racism.</p>.<p>In a polling-day bid to energise right-wing voters in 2015, he warned that Arab Israelis were voting "in droves" and suggested left-wing groups had bussed Arab citizens to polling stations.</p>.<p>In a rare visit to the northern city of Nazareth, the largest Arab city in Israel, Netanyahu promised investment and anti-crime initiatives and apologised for potentially offensive past remarks.</p>.<p>Arab Israelis -- Palestinians who stayed on their land following the Jewish state's creation in 1948, and their descendants -- make up about 20 percent of the country's roughly nine million people.</p>.<p>According to a survey by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), 66 percent of Israeli Arabs see Netanyahu's campaign to seduce them as insincere.</p>.<p>By law, Arab Israelis have rights equal to those of Jewish citizens. But they say that in practice they suffer discrimination in employment, housing, policing and other essentials.</p>.<p>They also point to a 2018 law defining Israel as the "nation state of the Jewish people" and giving Jews a "unique" right to self-determination there.</p>