Islamist Knesset Member storms out of interview over Hamas question

MK Mansour Abbas, an Arab Israeli lawmaker and head of an Islamist party, refuses to say whether he supports the elimination of the Hamas terror organization.

By World Israel News Staff

An Arab Israeli lawmaker stormed out of an interview with the country’s public broadcaster on Monday after repeatedly refusing to answer questions regarding the future of the Hamas terror organization in Gaza and whether Israel should be committed to destroying the group.

MK Mansour Abbas, chairman of the United Arab List (Ra’am), which is affiliated with the southern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel and derives much of its support from the Bedouin sector, spoke with Kan Reshet Bet Monday morning about the Trump administration’s Gaza peace plan, the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, and the future of Hamas in the coastal enclave.

When asked whether he believes “Hamas needs to be destroyed,” Abbas refused to respond.

The interviewer repeated the question, prompting Abbas to leave the interview as it was being broadcast live.

“I’m not under interrogation,” Abbas protested just before quitting the interview.

In a statement issued shortly afterward, Abbas criticized the interviewers — Suleiman Maswadeh and Asaf Liberman — and defended his refusal to answer the question.

“Anyone who listened to me on Reshet Bet heard me give clear answers regarding ‘the day after’ in the Gaza Strip,” Abbas said. “I said our plan aligns with President Trump’s plan.”

“I discussed our support for a new governing and security apparatus in the Gaza Strip. I mentioned an international force replacing the regime in Gaza,” he continued.

“I spoke about Palestinian forces being trained to eventually govern Gaza, and I spoke about the need to reach a peace deal and reconciliation between the two peoples. Anyone expecting me to speak like Ben-Gvir and Smotrich is mistaken,” Abbas said, referring to two prominent right-wing Israeli ministers, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Smotrich responded to Abbas, accusing the United Arab List of supporting Hamas and calling for its members to be removed from the Knesset and jailed.

“The UAL party and Mansour Abbas’ Islamic Movement are a sister movement of Hamas — supporters of terrorism and encouragers of terror whose place is in prison, not the Knesset of Israel,” Smotrich wrote on X.

“Abbas and his associates prove this simple truth again and again, which has been the basis of my consistent opposition to any government that relies on them.”

HamasIslamic Movement in IsraelMansour AbbasRa'am