Israel’s latest parliamentary election offers a sobering lesson for Indian Muslims who have become increasingly disillusioned with established secular parties and are exploring the possibility of independent political representation.The experience of Arab parties in Israel shows why such a political choice deserves careful consideration. Despite winning a record number of seats in the Knesset, their prospects of participating in the next government remain bleak. In fact, their unprecedented electoral success has been followed by allegations of electoral fraud that call their political legitimacy into question.According to the final results published by Israel’s Central Elections Committee on October 30, the nationalist-religious bloc led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot secured 48. Arab parties bagged 19 seats, with neither of the major blocs having the 61-seat majority required to form a government on its own.Ironically, in a deadlock where no major political bloc has secured a clear majority, newly elected Arab lawmakers should ideally be in a position to influence government formation. Yet neither bloc appears willing to involve them in forming the next government.Also read: Did the Muslim Vote in India Ever Matter?With the exception of Gadi Eisenkot, who has shown conditional openness, and Yair Golan, who has advocated Jewish-Arab cooperation, prominent leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rivals Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman have categorically ruled out forming a government with the support of Arab parties. They effectively treat them as political pariahs rather than potential kingmakers, apparently out of concern that such cooperation could alienate their own supporters.For Indian Muslims, the political developments in Israel raise an important question: Can their growing support for independent Muslim political parties weaken their ties with secular parties and liberal voices that have stood by them in the past, even if those allies’ support has often fallen short of expectations? And would greater political representation make up for the loss of these allies?All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi during a campaign rally in support of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) president and candidate from Binnakandi constituency, Badruddin Ajmal, ahead of the Assam assembly elections in Hojai on April 2, 2026. Ajmal beat Rejaul Karim Chowdhury of the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) with a margin of 35,380 votes. Photo: PTI.The question assumes greater significance as Asaduddin Owaisi, president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), seeks to expand his party’s presence beyond its traditional stronghold of Hyderabad, particularly in Muslim-dominated areas of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.Owaisi’s efforts to expand his party’s presence come amid growing dissatisfaction among Muslims over their inadequate political representation. According to the 2011 Census, Muslims make up 14.2% of India’s population, but only 24 Muslim candidates were elected to the 543-member Lok Sabha in 2024, accounting for just 4.4% of its strength. While this explains the appeal of independent Muslim parties, Israel’s experience shows that winning more parliamentary seats does not necessarily mean having greater influence over government decisions.When political allies become strangersThis is where the importance of maintaining broader political alliances comes into the picture. Indian Muslims have traditionally supported parties such as the Indian National Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Left parties, even though these parties have often taken Muslim votes for granted without adequately addressing the community’s concerns. Yet it would be unfair to overlook the role played by these parties, along with civil society organisations, journalists and liberal intellectuals, in challenging communal politics and defending minority rights. Their support has not always been consistent, and many have remained silent when they were needed most. But despite their shortcomings, these allies have played an important role and should not be dismissed altogether.Israel, too, has a history of Arab voters supporting parties outside their own community. In 1992, around 52.3% of Arab voters backed Jewish-led Zionist parties, including 20.6% who voted for Labour. By 2022, however, support for these parties had fallen sharply to just 14.2%. For decades, parties such as Labour, Mapam and Meretz had enjoyed varying degrees of support among Arab voters, while also taking up some of their concerns. Hadash, rooted in the Jewish-Arab communist tradition, promoted cooperation between the two communities, while Meretz and sections of Labour advocated for civil rights and negotiations with the Palestinians.Support for Palestinian rights was not limited to political parties. Prominent Israeli figures such as Uri Avnery, Shulamit Aloni and Yossi Beilin openly challenged their country’s policies towards Palestinians. Academics and journalists including Tanya Reinhart, Ilan Pappé, Avi Shlaim, Gideon Levy and Amira Hass also criticised Israeli policies and questioned widely accepted accounts of the country’s history. Although they differed in their views and approaches, they helped bring Palestinian concerns into the wider Israeli public debate. Historian Benny Morris, for example, challenged conventional accounts of the 1948 Palestinian exodus through his early research, although his political views later changed considerably. Their contributions showed that Palestinians had supporters and sympathetic voices within Jewish Israeli society as well.Also read: Muslims and the Politics of Belonging in Contemporary IndiaAs Arab voters gradually moved away from Jewish-led parties, Israel’s traditional left also suffered a sharp decline. Labour, which had won 44 seats in 1992, was reduced to just four in 2022, while Meretz failed to win a single seat. However, it would be wrong to blame this decline mainly on the changing voting preferences of Arab citizens. The failure of the Oslo peace process, the Second Intifada, growing security concerns and the rise of nationalist and religious parties all contributed to the weakening of the Israeli left. Arab voters, for their part, had their own reasons for turning away from parties they felt were no longer addressing their concerns.This leaves an important question unanswered: Did Jewish-led parties become less interested in seeking Arab support as more Arab voters turned to their own parties, or did Arab voters lose faith in these parties as Israeli politics moved increasingly to the right? It is difficult to say which came first, but the two developments may well have influenced each other.A similar situation could arise in India, where the growing influence of Hindu nationalist politics, spearheaded by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has made several secular parties hesitant to speak openly about Muslim concerns for fear of being accused of minority appeasement. This reluctance has added to the frustration of Muslim voters and encouraged them to look towards independent Muslim leadership.Electoral success under suspicionThe controversy following Israel’s election has added to these concerns. After Arab parties won a record number of seats, Netanyahu’s Likud accused them of electoral fraud, while election chief Justice Noam Sohlberg separately called for an investigation into suspected foreign funding and electoral interference. Israeli police, however, said there was no evidence to support Likud’s allegations, while Sohlberg himself acknowledged that his suspicions were unverified. Such allegations, without credible evidence, risk undermining the political legitimacy of an entire community.For Indian Muslims, the danger is that pursuing independent political representation without maintaining ties with other parties could leave their elected representatives politically isolated and more vulnerable to attempts to question their legitimacy.Representation and political influenceIsrael’s Joint List, formed in 2015 by Hadash, Ra’am, Ta’al and Balad, won 13 seats that year and a record 15 in 2020, but remained outside government. In 2021, however, Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas, joined the Bennett-Lapid coalition and secured commitments for investment and development in Arab communities. Although the government lasted barely a year, Ra’am showed how cooperation with other parties could give minority representatives a say in government decisions.India’s first-past-the-post system also makes it difficult for smaller parties to gain political influence. AIMIM’s expansion has raised concerns about divided opposition votes, although much depends on local voting patterns. It would be wrong to assume that all those voting for AIMIM would otherwise support Congress or other secular parties.The responsibility of secular partiesThe responsibility for preserving these relationships cannot rest on Muslim voters alone. Congress and other secular parties cannot continue taking their support for granted while doing little to improve their political representation or address discrimination and communal violence. Liberal voices, too, must do more than offer occasional expressions of solidarity. Their reluctance to speak up when it matters has contributed to the community’s growing disillusionment.Muslims have every right to seek independent political representation while maintaining broader alliances. Secular parties must earn their confidence through meaningful action, and independent Muslim parties should build relationships beyond their own communities.India and Israel have different political histories, electoral systems and minority experiences. Yet the Israeli experience offers a warning: a minority can win more seats without gaining a stronger voice in government. For Indian Muslims, the danger lies in placing all their hopes in independent representation at the expense of the broader alliances needed to turn electoral strength into political influence.Khalid Aftab is an Indian journalist and senior editor based in Saudi Arabia.