which happened once by likud activists.
and yet more arab israelis voted than ever before in the election after that.

missed out an important part:

…the overall vote in many of these cities was not for right-wing parties – it was simply split between multiple candidates on the Center or Left.

not quite.
last elections 70% of eligible voters voted.
likud has gotten around 24% of their votes.
this was about the same even in the election before that.