Palestinian citizens of Israel turned out in record numbers at the 27 October election, and Arab parties came away with 19 seats in the Knesset, more than ever before. Many voters describe a rare feeling of hope, with whole families from grandparents to grandchildren going to the polls together.

Those seats matter arithmetically. They lift the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot past the 61 seats needed to form a governing coalition, making the Arab parties hard to ignore in any attempt to replace Benjamin Netanyahu.

But the reaction from parts of Israeli politics and media has been sharply hostile. Within a day of the vote, Likud and figures such as Itamar Ben Gvir accused the Arab parties of winning through bribery, intimidation, violence and forgery. The allegations have persisted even though the Central Elections Committee and the police said they found no sign of organised tampering. A hard right television channel aligned with Netanyahu repeatedly framed the high turnout in terms of terrorism, while news panels discussing Arab voters featured almost no Arab guests.

One young voter posted a video that spread widely among Palestinians, contrasting the warm language used about Arab citizens when they are seen as neighbours and symbols of coexistence with the suspicion they face the moment they seek real political influence.

In Jaffa's Ajami neighbourhood, residents see the moment against a long history. Before 1948 the city had about 100,000 Palestinian residents; afterwards fewer than 4,000 remained, confined for years under military rule. A local civic leader who grew up there described today's mix of unprecedented representation and renewed efforts to delegitimise Arab voters as part of a longer struggle simply to be accepted.

An expert on Jewish and Arab relations calls it a political crossroads for Israel, with the question of whether Arab parties can share power now central to who governs next.