Following a meeting with Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, Foreign Minister Lapid said: “I accept MK Rinawie Zoabi back to the coalition. We held a frank, open, and level-headed discussion about the true needs of Arab society, with her and with the mayors, whom I thank for getting involved. We put the dispute behind us, and we’re returning to the work of the government.”

The same day that Zoabi accepted to return to the coalition, another Israeli lawmaker Nir Orbach from the right-wing Yamina party again reportedly threatened he would soon quit the coalition, Israel’s Channel 13 reported.

Knesset Member Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi from the left-wing Meretz party, who stunned the Israeli political system last week  by announcing her resignation from the coalition, has changed her mind following heavy pressure by coalition leaders.

“I grew up in the local Arab councils, and now I am in the Knesset to improve Arab society,” Zoabi said after a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Regional Development Minister Esawi Frej and other senior Meretz figures.

Following the meeting, Lapid said: “I accept MK Rinawie Zoabi back to the coalition. We held a frank, open, and level-headed discussion about the true needs of Arab society, with her and with the mayors, whom I thank for getting involved. We put the dispute behind us, and we’re returning to the work of the government.”

Zoabi said: “After tremendous pressure by the Arab mayors, who contacted me and said they understand the meaning of my leaving the coalition, I agreed to meet with Minister Lapid and came with them … I will support the coalition. But I also want the coalition to be true and attentive to Arab society and its needs in health, education, housing, and infrastructure.”

Minister Frej said, “There was a good atmosphere at the meeting, where it was clear that maintaining the integrity of the government and the coalition is the supreme interest of the Israeli public in general, and the Arab public in particular.”

Nazareth Mayor Ali Salam was quoted saying, “We could not just stand by without meeting with her and returning her to the government. We will not allow anyone to break up the government. We met with her for days until we convinced her.”

Foreign Minister Lapid has positioned himself as the central figure maintaining the stability of this government.

It is also in his supreme interest that the government doesn’t, if he is to realise his ambition of becoming Prime Mminister. Were the coalition to collapse as a result of another right-wing defection, then Lapid automatically become acting Pprime Minister. If the government falls as a result of the Left, Bennett remains in position.

The government and opposition are once again tied 60-60.  This leaves the coalition once again susceptible to threats and demands from any other single MK.

According to sources in the meeting, Rinawie Zoabi did not even mention the issues cited in her resignation letter last week; Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, the settlements, the occupation or the Negev.

Instead, there was a commitment to streamline the bureaucratic process to release funds already allocated to Arab communities.

In her resignation letter to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and to Lapid, Zoabi wrote that “the heads of the coalition preferred to strengthen and safeguard the right-wing side of the coalition, again and again.”

Zoabi said she had encountered “total unreceptiveness to the needs of Arab communities, particularly in the areas of development for local councils, housing, employment and education.”

Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting  on Sunday, Bennett said: “Despite all the ups and downs, and there have been many, our government took the country from mass unemployment and a record deficit, riots in the streets of Israel, and thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip, and brought it to strong growth and determined handling of the security situation, at home and abroad. I think that if the MKs on the left feel that the government is too right-wing, and the MKs on the right feel that the government is too left-wing, it’s a sign that the government is in a good place in the middle. A good executive government, that puts aside ideological arguments, and just takes care of the citizens. That’s the meaning of compromise. This is a good government for Israel, and we’re not giving up.”

The Likud Party said in a statement that Zoabi’s return had only been made possible by promising “millions of shekels” in funding to the Arab sector.

The ruling Yamina Party denied the claim, saying in response that “no new money was promised to Knesset member Rinawie Zoabi,” according to the report.

What had been discussed, according to Yamina, was “opening blockages” preventing the distribution of budgets approved some time ago as part of the government’s five-year program, “in the areas of education, infrastructure, employment and more.”

The same day that Zoabi accepted to return to the coalition, another Israeli lawmaker Nir Orbach from the right-wing Yamina party again reportedly threatened he would soon quit the coalition, Israel’s Channel 13 reported..

According to the report, Orbach said he is concerned that “this government increasingly has the image of one that capitulates to Arabs. If it doesn’t stop, I’ll be out quicker than they may think.”

If Orbach leaves the coalition, it will once again be left in the minority with 59 seats out of 120.

According tot the latest poll, if elections are held today, Meretz would fail to make it above the electoral threshold. The poll  by Panels Politics shows that the Likud receives 36 seats, Yesh Atid 18, the Religious Zionist Party 9, Shas 8, Blue and White 8, United Torah Judaism 7, Joint List 7, Yamina 6, Yisrael Beiteinu 5, New Hope 4 the United Arab List (UAL) 4 seats. According to the current blocs: The right wing opposition would have 60 seats, the current coalition parties 53, with the Joint List on 7.