The leader of Israel's Islamist political party, Mansour Abbas, has worked hard to show the country's Jewish majority that he is worthy of joining the next government. On Monday, Mr. Abbas gave a top spot on the party's candidate list to a pillar of the Zionist establishment, Yoav Segalovitz, a veteran Israeli paratrooper, career police commander and former deputy minister of national security. Until now, only Jews from the fringes of Israeli politics, like Communists, had belonged to Arab parties. Mr. Segalovitz had been a member of Yesh Atid, an avowedly centrist Zionist party.

Without the support of Mr. Abbas's Raam party — the Hebrew acronym for the United Arab List — opposition leaders may not have enough seats in Parliament to drive Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power after October's election. "There are people who are afraid of partnership," Mr. Abbas said in Nazareth. "Raam is not afraid of partnership."

As deputy national security minister, Mr. Segalovitz took charge of addressing the soaring crime rate in Arab communities, cutting homicides by 16 percent and shootings by 30 percent. So far this year, a record 168 Arab citizens have been killed, according to the Abraham Initiative.

Mr. Segalovitz hopes to become national security minister himself. "The current government has brought the State of Israel to intolerable places," he said.