Ahmad Tibi airs texts he says came from Netanyahu confidant Natan Eshel

Ahmad Tibi, a member of the Knesset (Israel's parliament) for the Arab-majority Joint List, displayed text messages on Channel 12 that he said were sent to him by Natan Eshel, a longtime confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to The Times of Israel, the messages show Eshel seeking the party's help in blocking moves by the Knesset bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar party.

Tibi argued that the exchange exposes a double standard: Netanyahu's campaign has sought to delegitimise any partnership with Arab parties, he said, yet Likud, Netanyahu's party, has been willing to ask for their backing when it serves its interests. Ynet reported that Likud told the programme the claim was an "absolute lie".

What Tibi said the messages contained

Ynet, the news site of the Yedioth Ahronoth group, described the appearance as taking place on the Channel 12 programme "Ofira-Ohana-Seri" and characterised the messages as ones Tibi had allegedly received, according to his own account. Ynet quoted Tibi addressing the prime minister directly, calling him a hypocrite and saying Netanyahu had wanted the Joint List not to support what Ynet's report calls "the defendant law" and not to join Eisenkot. The Ynet report does not explain which bill that term refers to.

The Times of Israel framed the messages as Eshel expressing interest in enlisting the Arab-majority party to help thwart measures by Eisenkot's camp. Neither outlet reproduced the full text of the messages in the material available to us, and neither said whether it had independently confirmed that Eshel sent them.

A second approach, from a minister

Tibi also said that, this week, a minister serving in Netanyahu's government contacted him. In Tibi's telling, as reported by The Times of Israel, the minister urged him not to vote for the formation of a government headed by Eisenkot and instead to press for Israelis to go back to the polls once more.

Tibi said he replied that the Joint List has no interest in a fresh election. What the party wants, he said, is to see Netanyahu replaced along with his far-right ministers, whom he accused of inciting against Israel's 2 million Arab citizens with the help of David Zini, the head of the Shin Bet. Tibi did not name the minister, according to the reports.

Who the people and bodies are

The Joint List is an Arab-majority party in the Knesset; Tibi is one of its lawmakers. Likud is the party Netanyahu leads. Yashar is the party chaired by Gadi Eisenkot, whose bloc is the target of the effort Tibi described.

The Shin Bet, formally the Israel Security Agency, is Israel's domestic security and counterintelligence service, responsible among other things for investigating threats inside the country. The Times of Israel noted reports that Zini, its current chief, had sought to bring in leaders of Arab parties for questioning; the excerpt of that report available to us breaks off before setting out the suspicions involved.

Natan Eshel is described by The Times of Israel as a longtime confidant of Netanyahu. The reports do not say whether he holds any formal position.

Why the claim matters politically

Whether Jewish-majority parties should rely on Arab parties to form or sustain a government is a recurring fault line in Israeli politics. According to Tibi, Netanyahu's camp has made the illegitimacy of such cooperation a campaign theme. His accusation is that the same camp privately sought Arab votes to stop a rival bloc, which, if true, would cut against that message. Likud's response, as relayed by Ynet, is a flat denial.

What the reports do not say

• Neither report says it verified the messages or their sender, and no response from Eshel himself has been reported.
• Likud's denial, as reported, does not specify whether it disputes the messages' authenticity, their content or Tibi's interpretation of them.
• The minister Tibi says approached him is not identified, and no response from that minister has been reported.
• The reports do not explain what "the defendant law" refers to or what specific Knesset measures Eshel allegedly wanted blocked.