Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says he will not build a new coalition government with the United Arab List, despite having allied with the party to become premier in 2021.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Monday that the possible addition of Jewish lawmaker Yoav Segalovitz to the United Arab List’s (known in Hebrew by the acronym Ra’am) election slate would not make the Arab Islamist party an acceptable coalition partner, drawing a firm line as Israel’s opposition searches for a path to a governing majority.

“I don’t speak based on a person’s identity or race. I speak based on principles. The government will be Zionist,” Bennett told Galei Tzahal.

The comments came amid reports that Segalovitz, a Yesh Atid MK and former senior police commander, is considering running in a prominent position on the slate headed by UAL chairman Mansour Abbas. Segalovitz is expected to meet Abbas after returning from a trip abroad, although no agreement has been signed and both sides still face significant political and ideological obstacles.

Bennett’s rejection undercuts speculation that placing a well-known Jewish Zionist on the UAL ticket could make the party more acceptable to the anti-Netanyahu bloc after the October 27 election.

Bennett leads Together, the recently formed alliance between his party and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid. Segalovitz currently belongs to that political framework, but reports have suggested he could receive a higher and safer position with UAL than on the consolidated Together slate.

Segalovitz has not publicly announced that he is leaving Yesh Atid. Reports say he has agreed in principle to explore the move, while Abbas must secure support within UAL and complete the establishment of the party’s new internal institutions. Some UAL figures reportedly oppose placing a Jewish candidate on the ticket.

Abbas sought to lower expectations over the weekend, saying the party’s immediate priority was its August 22 conference, internal elections and organizational restructuring.

“UAL is currently focused on the primaries and completing the establishment of its independent institutions,” Abbas wrote, adding that outside candidates would be discussed later.

UAL is undergoing a broader transformation intended to separate its political decision-making from the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement and its Shura Council, which previously exercised substantial influence over party affairs. Abbas has described the planned structure as that of a civic political party with independent institutions.

The prospective partnership with Segalovitz forms part of Abbas’s attempt to widen UAL’s appeal beyond its traditional Arab Muslim constituency and position it as a pragmatic participant in a future government.

An internal UAL survey of 750 Arab citizens reportedly found that 75% viewed Segalovitz as the Jewish lawmaker closest to their positions and most responsive to their needs, placing him far ahead of several other Jewish opposition politicians.

Segalovitz developed close ties with Arab local leaders while serving as deputy public security minister in the Bennett-Lapid government. He oversaw the “Safe Track” program targeting organized crime and illegal weapons in Arab communities and has continued visiting towns affected by violent crime since leaving office.

Bennett himself campaigned alongside Segalovitz in the Negev in May, praising his record on crime. Bennett said Segalovitz was “not good at TikTok” but had succeeded in reducing violence, contrasting him with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Any Segalovitz-UAL agreement would apparently require significant ideological concessions from Abbas’s party. Segalovitz reportedly would insist that UAL recognize Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and support national civilian service for Arab citizens as an alternative to military enlistment.

Segalovitz has presented his approach as an effort to create a shared Israeli civic identity rather than erase differences between Jewish and Arab citizens. Discussing the mixed staff and patient population at Soroka Medical Center, he said: “Everyone shares the same fate. Everyone is Israeli.”

A senior Yesh Atid official voiced support for the initiative, arguing that UAL’s efforts to distance itself from international Islamist organizations could make it a legitimate governing partner.

“It is an excellent idea,” the official said, adding that UAL “can be a partner in the government.”

Bennett, however, has repeatedly rejected relying on an Arab-majority faction to form his next government. Shortly after launching the Together alliance in April, he said that Israel should be governed by Zionist parties committed to military or national service.

“Will I care for the Arab citizens of Israel? Of course,” Bennett said at the time. “But to depend [on an Arab political party?] No.”

The position marks a departure from Bennett’s conduct in 2021, when he formed an ideologically diverse government with Lapid, right-wing and left-wing parties and UAL. It was the first time an independent Arab party formally joined an Israeli governing coalition, but the alliance collapsed after approximately 18 months.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly invoked that government in attacking Bennett and Lapid, warning voters that the opposition leaders would again depend on Abbas. After Bennett and Lapid announced their new alliance, Netanyahu posted an image of the two men with the UAL chairman and declared: “They did it once, they’ll do it again.”

Netanyahu himself held extensive talks with Abbas while trying to assemble a government after the 2021 election, but the prospective arrangement was blocked by Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich. Abbas has repeatedly said Netanyahu was prepared to form a government supported by UAL.

Most recent polls show the opposition bloc will not have a majority in the next Knesset without the help of at least one of the two Arab lists which are expected to cross the electoral threshold, complicating efforts to form a government without Netanyahu’s Likud, ultra-Orthodox parties or the right-wing Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionist Party.

Polling also shows Bennett’s Together list hemorrhaging support to a rival centrist faction, former IDF chief of staff and ex-minister Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar! (Forward!) party.

The post Bennett rules out coalition with Islamist Arab party appeared first on World Israel News.

Abbas’s refusal to answer may have broader electoral consequences in the upcoming national elections in October, as it reinforces right-wing warnings about the danger of bringing an Arab party into the government.

By David Isaac, JNS

United Arab List (Ra’am) Party Chairman Mansour Abbas on Tuesday refused to condemn Hamas as a terror organization that needs to be destroyed during an interview with Israeli radio station Kan Reshet Bet.

In an uncharacteristically emotional outburst by the party leader, Abbas refused to directly answer the question repeatedly posed to him by interviewer Esti Perez-Ben Ami:

“Can you say unequivocally, clearly, that Hamas is a terrorist organization that massacred Israeli citizens, Jews, and Arabs on Oct. 7, [2023] and needs to be eliminated?”

Abbas first launched into a tirade about how his party was constantly being required to pass purity tests.

“We condemned every act of terrorism. We condemned the crimes of Oct. 7, not only from the secular viewpoint but also from the Islamic religious viewpoint. We came out against it. … And again they want to bring us back to the tests,” he said.

He then defended his supporters, drawn from traditional, religious Muslims, particularly Bedouin in the Negev region, describing them as “normative, law-abiding citizens.”

They want to integrate into Israeli society and “aspire to achieve peace and reconciliation between the Palestinian people and the Jewish people,” he said.

Perez Ben-Ami responded: “You don’t answer me, but I’m asking you a question: Is Hamas a terror organization that needs to be destroyed?”

Abbas again dodged the question, saying that on top of putting him through additional tests, it wasn’t wise to play into the hands of the extreme right, which seeks to delegitimize his party.

He said it’s also an attempt to delegitimize The Democrats, a new party formed in 2024 through the merger of the far-left Meretz and Labor parties.

He said it was outrageous to put “any one of us to this loyalty test.”

“MK Mansour Abbas, I hear you. I also hear the emotion in your voice. But I ask you for an answer, which my listeners also want to ask. Is Hamas a terrorist organization that needs to be destroyed? What’s wrong with saying yes or no?” Perez Ben-Ami asked.

After a back-and-forth during which they spoke over each other, Abbas said, “I don’t want to give you an unequivocal answer.” He later added, “I have an unequivocal answer. I don’t want to say it.”

Abbas’s refusal to answer may have broader electoral consequences in the upcoming national elections in October, as it reinforces right-wing warnings about the danger of bringing an Arab party into the government.

Mathematically, the opposition must include at least one Arab party to form a governing coalition.

Ra’am, which is projected to win five votes according to the latest Channel 12 poll on Monday, is the most logical partner.

Indeed, it’s the only alternative as the other Arab parties, Hadash-Ta’al and Balad, refuse to be part of a Zionist governing coalition.

Ra’am has expressed readiness to become part of an Israeli government, having already participated in the Lapid-Bennett government (June 2021-Dec. 2022).

Israeli right-wing politicians jumped on Abbas’s latest comments. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of the Otzma Yehudit Party posted to X:

“I have a clear-cut answer on what needs to be done with all the terror supporters, the left’s partners, who are in the Knesset under the auspices of the hostile judicial system. And I’m ready to say it: Send them to Iran. Out!”

This is not the first time Abbas has made controversial statements regarding Hamas. On May 23, 2024, he described Hamas as a legitimate part of the Palestinian people.

He attempted to clarify his words the following day, telling Kan Reshet Bet, “Arab states are seeking a solution through reconciliation between the nations. Regarding Hamas, there is no room for those who do not see reconciliation as part of the solution. Those who have committed crimes must pay the price; Hamas has committed crimes.”

In 2024, a Ra’am-linked charity, Aid 48, was caught sending large sums to Hamas.

Abbas has attempted to broaden his party’s appeal. He announced in Dec. 2025 that he would split from the Shura Council, a body associated with the Muslim Brotherhood-inspired Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement, which guided the party and ultimately made its decisions.

Abbas’s move followed an announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a month prior that he intended to ban the Muslim Brotherhood. His declaration followed a similar announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump.

In 2009 and 2019, the Knesset Central Elections Committee banned Ra’am from running due to its extremism, only to have its ruling reversed by the Israeli Supreme Court.

The post Ra’am Party chief refuses to condemn Hamas as terror group appeared first on World Israel News.

After denying the party is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, United Arab List Chairman Mansour Abbas announces plans to separate from the Islamic Movement in Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

The United Arab List, also known by the Hebrew acronym “Ra’am,” will cut its ties to a controversial Islamist movement, the party’s chairman announced on Saturday.

Speaking with Channel 12, MK Mansour Abbas said the UAL will sever its ties to the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, including the Shura Council.

While he pledged to distance the UAL from the Islamic Movement, an organization rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology, Abbas also denied the party was affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

“First of all, we are not a part of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Abbas said. “If we were part of the Muslim Brotherhood, I wouldn’t be in the Knesset, I wouldn’t even be sitting with you here.”

Abbas added that his party’s inclusion in the short-lived Bennett-Lapid government from 2021 to 2022 helped inspire the decision to move away from the Islamic Movement.

“The second thing is that we have learned lessons from what we had [in the previous government]. The UAL today is moving in the direction of being a completely civic party, with separate institutions.”

The UAL chief added that the party is slated to formally approve plans to cut ties with the Islamic Movement’s Shura Council at a conference next month.

In an interview with Haaretz on Saturday night, Abbas said the decision to part ways with the Islamic Movement was part of a larger effort to appeal to a wider array of Arab voters, and not “only those identified with the Islamic Movement.”

Abbas’ comments come roughly two weeks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that the UAL could be banned as part of the Muslim Brotherhood.

“The State of Israel has already outlawed part of the organization, and we are working to complete this action soon,” Netanyahu said.

Historically, the Islamic Movement in Israel, established in 1971, was effectively a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In 1996, however, the Islamic Movement split into two factions, the Northern and Southern branches, after part of the group’s leadership endorsed the formation of the United Arab List party.

While Israel later banned the Northern Branch over its support for Hamas, the UAL has presented itself as a politically moderate force representing the Israeli Arab minority’s religiously observant Muslim community.

The post Fearing ban, Israeli Arab party cuts ties to Islamist groups appeared first on World Israel News.

“Aid 48” has been dissolved for transferring millions in goods and funds to terror groups in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

An NGO linked to the Islamist United Arab List (UAL) supported Hamas and other terror groups and has now been dissolved, as per the order of the Israeli Registrar of Nonprofits.

Igatha (Aid) 48 is the charitable branch of the southern faction of the Islamic Movement, whose political branch is the UAL, known in Hebrew as the Ra’am party.

The Registrar found “numerous flaws and improper conduct in the management of the association,” having discovered that it transferred millions of shekels to organizations outlawed by Israel for their terrorist activities.

Within Israel these include an NIS2 million grant to the Hebron Charitable Association, and outside the country, the Turkey-based Khair al Umma Foundation has been generously supported by Aid 48 for years, with an NIS933,000 donation in 2020 alone.

This foundation, said the Registrar, “belongs to Hamas and the members of the organization are Hamas activists,” as per the Israel Security Service (Shabak).

The Aid 48 link to Khair al Ummah had been known since 2023, when the Registrar asked the social support organization for clarifications regarding its financial transfers to the foreign group.

In February 2024, after media outlet Hakol HaYehudi investigated and publicized the connection between the UAL and Khair al Ummah, party officials denied knowing that the foundation was affiliated with Hamas, saying they ran joint project that were “strictly humanitarian and educational.”

However, the outlet found that “Senior members of Ra’am were proved to have been present during incitement from members of Khair al Ummah,” and that some of its educational material, “delivered by Ra’am leaders,” included “extremist rhetoric and incitement.”

The “Choose Life” forum of bereaved families and victims of terrorism, which had filed the original complaint with the Registrar against Aid 48, welcomed the decision to dissolve the association.

“This is a historic victory for the forum,” it stated, “which cut off Hamas’ funding pipeline from the Islamic movement of Ra’am and the Aid 48 association, whose financial turnover exceeded NIS250 million in the years before October 7,” the day in 2023 when Hamas sparked war with Israel after it invaded the country and massacred 1,200 people, the vast majority of them civilians.

“We demand that senior Ra’am officials and related organizations be arrested for questioning,” the forum added, “and that all relevant criminal laws be applied against them. Anyone who supported Hamas until October 7th should be sent to prison.”

At a Knesset House Committee meeting on Sunday which dealt in part with the investigation of Aid 48, MK Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit) voiced support for the idea, saying, “We can’t settle with the dissolution of an organization that transferred funds to Hamas. This is a severe crime according to the Combating Terror Law.”

“We’re dealing with hundreds of millions of shekels which were transferred to our enemies, with clear knowledge that these were terror organizations.”

The Arab party made history when it joined the unity government headed by Naftali Bennett in 2021, with UAL head MK Mansour Abbas professing that the UAL wanted only to improve the lives of Arab citizens and help bring peace to the region.

Numerous attempts have been made to disqualify Ra’am as well as other Arab lists from running for Knesset on the basis of their members’ support of terrorism, but either the Knesset’s Elections Committee or the Supreme Court has consistently rejected such requests.

The post Israeli Arab party linked to NGO funneling money to Hamas-run groups appeared first on World Israel News.

Arousing fury, Iman Khatib-Yassin of the United Arab List claims that Hamas did not murder babies on October 7; she apologized hours later.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

An Arab MK on Sunday denied that Hamas committed atrocities during its surprise invasion of Gaza envelope communities last month, despite the IDF has presented to the contrary.

Interviewed by the Knesset Channel, Iman Khatib-Yassin of the United Arab List (Ra’am) said, “They didn’t slaughter babies, at least from what was in the movie, and they didn’t rape women.”

The movie she was referring to was a compilation the IDF made from bodycams of the Hamas terrorists themselves, as well as footage from dashcams, smartphones, and security cameras in the kibbutzim, moshavim, towns and the dance rave attacked on October 7. Roughly 1,100 civilian men, women, children and infants were murdered, along with over 300 soldiers and policemen.

The 43-minute video had first been shown to journalists from around the world soon after the carnage, to combat denials by Hamas that its terrorists perpetrated numerous atrocities during the October 7th massacres.

On Wednesday, the video was screened at the Knesset, with anti-anxiety medication offered to lawmakers. The raw videos were too much for many of them, with MKs leaving the room shaking and crying in the middle and one, Likud MK Tsega Melaku, reportedly fainting at the cruel sights.

Directly contradicting Khatib-Yassin’s assertion, Labor Party MK Naama Lazimi posted on X afterward that her breaking point came specifically at the sight of a dead infant.

“When the photograph of the murdered baby appeared, the picture was so painful and difficult that I had to leave. The image will be engraved in the depths of my soul forever,” she wrote.

The IDF specified that it has even withheld some of the most horrific scenes that its soldiers and volunteer first responders from the Zaka organization saw as they cleared the massacre sites one by one.

The Ra’am MK admitted that she did not show up for the screening, relying on what others told her.

“I heard firsthand from three members of my party who watched the film,” she said, adding that she didn’t go because such videos “just adds to the pain.”

She did condemn Hamas’ actions, saying, “What happened, to me, is inhumane, and it goes against the values of Islam even during war.”

She then seemingly hedged her words, adding, “But it’s impossible to ignore all that happened before and after, although I don’t justify it.”

Channel 14 reported that there some in Ra’am’s leadership immediately demanded Khatib-Yassin’s resignation, but that she has received no official order to do so yet.

Party head Mansour Abbas said he was “shocked” at what his colleague had said, stressed that “we condemned the horrific slaughter from the first moment,” and stated that “There is, and will be, no place in our ranks for anyone who denies or minimizes the seriousness of acts that are contrary to our values and the Islamic religion.”

Justice Minister Yariv Levin condemned the Arab legislator, saying, “I was shocked by MK Iman Khatib-Yassin’s serious words, which contain a denial of the terrible massacre committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7. A few days ago, even before MK Khatib-Yassin’s remarks, I instructed the professionals at the Ministry of Justice to draw up a bill that would prohibit the denial of the massacre and set a severe punishment for those who do so.”

Hours after the angry reactions poured in, Khatib-Yassin apologized.

“I was wrong, I regret it and apologize,” she said. “I had no intention of downplaying or denying the shocking massacre on the seventh of October and the horrible acts against women, babies and the elderly who were murdered in the south. From Day One I voiced a clear position regarding the condemnation of these heinous acts against Jews and Arab citizens of Israel on that black Sabbath, and it is worth emphasizing this again, especially at this time.”

The post Arab lawmaker denies Hamas atrocities appeared first on World Israel News.

Should the uptick in slayings continue, 2023 is slated to be the deadliest year on record for Israel’s Arab sector.

By World Israel News Staff

A prominent Israel-Arab politician said he would be willing to work in cooperation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to combat rampant crime in Arab communities, which has seen murder rates spike in 2023.

MK Mansour Abbas, who served as the coalition kingmaker in the previous government headed by former prime minister Naftali Bennett, is the head of the Islamist Ra’am party.

Abbas, who was reportedly in talks with Netanyahu to support a government headed by him in 2021 before the idea was quashed by other potential coalition parties, has maintained cordial relations with the right-wing Haredi and Likud parties.

In an interview with Arabic-language Radio Nas on Wednesday morning, Abbas said that he would be interested in partnering with Netanyahu – in exchange for the premier appointing him as the head czar responsible for battling crime in the sector.

He told Radio Nas that he wanted to see if Netanyahu is truly serious about fighting frequent murders and extortion in Arab municipalities, as the premier had publicly stated. “I would like to challenge Netanyahu on this, to see if he really cares about the well-being of Arab-Israeli citizens,” Abbas said.

On Tuesday, an Arab-Israeli man was shot dead in northern Israel, marking the 125th victim of homicide in the community in 2023. The victim, identified as Marhan Awaisy, was the son of the deputy mayor of Nazareth.

According to the Abraham Accords NGO, which monitors killings in the Arab community, the number of murders in 2023 has already surpassed the total in 2022, which stood at 116.

Should the uptick in slayings continue, 2023 is slated to be the deadliest year on record for Israel’s Arab sector.

While some Arab politicians have complained about alleged government neglect being the cause of crime, Israel’s police have cited witnesses and victims’ unwillingness to cooperate with authorities or testify in court as a major barrier to fighting crime.

The post Islamist party head Mansour Abbas willing to partner with Netanyahu on battling Arab crime appeared first on World Israel News.

What’s about to unfold goes beyond even the usual histrionics and plotting that ensue whenever the parties of the right succeed.

By Jonathan Tobin, JNS

Prior to the recent Israeli election, it was clear that Benjamin Netanyahu’s left-wing opponents and their sympathizers in the United States wouldn’t meekly accept defeat if they were unable to prevent the Likud Party leader and his allies from winning.

But now that Netanyahu has won and appears to be on the verge of forming a government with a stable majority, it’s clear that what’s about to unfold goes beyond even the usual histrionics and plotting that ensue whenever the parties of the right succeed.

Having campaigned on a platform that depicted Netanyahu as an enemy of democracy, they continue to push that argument regardless of the facts or the consequences for Israel and its alliance with the U.S. Much like the cultural tribal war that characterizes American politics, the Israeli left and their friends in the organized American-Jewish world, the foreign-policy establishment and the Democratic Party believe that no smear or tactic is too awful to employ if it can somehow hurt him.

This means they are not only prepared to undermine the already shaky ties between Israel and American Jews and heighten tensions between Netanyahu and the Biden administration. They also seem to think that encouraging the Palestinians to double down on their destructive attitudes is not beyond the pale.

The belief that behaving like a loyal opposition is the proper response to losing an election has gone out of style in both the U.S. and Israel.

In Israel, the right did its best to undermine the left-wing governments led by Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, as well as the “anyone-but-Bibi” coalition led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid in the last year and a half. But those efforts were tame compared to the scorched-earth approach of the left every time it finds itself shut out of what it still absurdly thinks of as its natural role governing the Jewish state. Likud-led governments have been routinely demonized at home and abroad.

As bad as the invective directed at Netanyahu has been in the past, it pales in comparison to what’s being said about him now. As the statements from both outgoing interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid and some of the veteran members of the American foreign-policy establishment indicate, their method of dealing with Netanyahu’s democratically elected government will be to treat it as if it is the moral equivalent of Iran’s Islamist tyrants.

Part of the focus of this campaign is centered on the past behavior of Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich and that of the anti-LGBTQ Noam faction in the coalition.

Concerns about whether Ben-Gvir and Smotrich will behave responsibly as ministers leading government departments are reasonable, as is disgust with Noam’s pronouncements.

Still, given that they have a lot to lose if they are seen as provocateurs rather than problem-solvers, and that Netanyahu has made it clear that they will not get their way when it comes to making Israel a religious state, the fears about them are not merely overstated. They are, instead, partisan talking points that ignore the fact that the Israeli voters who put them in this strong position see them as proposing sensible responses to a security crisis the previous government didn’t sufficiently address.

Some of the talk coming from Ben-Gvir, Smotrich and others in the religious parties is upsetting to American Jewry, which remains overwhelmingly non-Orthodox. But the pearl-clutching about them disregards that Netanyahu and the Likud will act as an effective check on their ambitions.

Equally specious are the claims that the new government’s plans for restoring some democratic accountability to Israel’s out-of-control left-wing-dominated judiciary is a threat to democracy.

Biggest danger comes from American Jews

Moreover, the notion that there is something peculiarly extreme about this coalition is rich, coming from some of the same people who never questioned the inclusion of far-left parties in Israeli governments, and even applauded the presence in the Bennett-Lapid coalition of radical Islamists who oppose the existence of a Jewish state.

Such critics were prepared to accept, at face value, assurances that Mansour Abbas and his Ra’am Party were reformed or didn’t actually support their platform. But they won’t even consider the possibility that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich will behave like grown-ups now that they have responsible jobs on which their political futures will hinge.

Yet that’s not the most dangerous aspect of the anti-Bibi resistance. Far worse is the rhetoric coming from American Jews, like the Union of Reform Judaism’s Rabbi Rick Jacobs and veteran U.S. State Department peace-processors Aaron David Miller and Daniel Kurtzer.

The latter two penned an op-ed in The Washington Post this week not just at taking potshots at their old antagonist as he returns for another term in what is already a record run as prime minister. Their aim was to undermine Israel’s diplomatic position, both in Washington and in international forums.

Their premise is that not only is this new coalition more “extreme” than any other in Israel’s history, but that Netanyahu—who, like him or not, has been one of the most able statesmen and effective democratic politicians on the international stage in recent decades—is no longer a legitimate partner in the alliance.

They also believe it is the Biden administration’s responsibility to intervene in Israel’s domestic debates; place limits on aid to it; and condemn it in order to ensure that this government is effectively prevented from following the allegedly “malign” policies on which it was elected.

At the core of their approach is not just a deliberately disingenuous mischaracterization of Netanyahu and his government. It is based on the same Oslo-inspired delusion about the Palestinians that was the foundation of a quarter-century of failed American Middle East policy.

While acknowledging that neither the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas want to make peace, the co-authors continue to cling to the myth that what the Palestinians seek is an independent state alongside Israel, and that America must force Israel to pretend that this is still true. They are ready, as they have been in the past, to blame Palestinian terrorism and rejection of peace on the assertion of Jewish rights and the defense of Israel’s security, rather than on the fact that both the Fatah kleptocrats in Ramallah and the Hamas Islamists in Gaza refuse to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state, no matter where its boundaries are drawn.

Worse, they are prepared to condition U.S. aid, and even support for Israel in international forums against antisemitic libels, on Israel’s agreeing to forgo building infrastructure for already existing Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and not demand the right of Jews to pray on the Temple Mount.

Thwarting Iraeli democracy

As with past efforts to deny agency to intransigent Palestinians, their position effectively legitimizes Arab terrorism against Jews and antisemitism at the United Nations by branding Israeli actions that might protect its interests and security as the behavior of a rogue state. We have already witnessed the consequences of such American stands, which encouraged terror and rejectionism. But unchastened by their record of consistent failure, Miller and Kurtzer, cheered on by other American-Jewish left-wingers, want to repeat the disasters of the past.

Strip away the falsehoods that cloak their position, these advocates for the new anti-Bibi resistance must be seen for what they are and what they aren’t; they aren’t defending democracy, peace or the U.S.-Israel alliance. Their objective is to thwart the verdict of Israeli democracy and promote instability and violence by reverting to Oslo fantasies. But it is Israeli Jews, not those enjoying comfortable American sinecures like Miller, Kurtzer and Jacobs, who will pay a price in blood for their blind hatred for Netanyahu and the parties to his right.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate). Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.

The post Anti-Bibi resistance isn’t protecting Israel’s best interests – opinion appeared first on World Israel News.

“Will we allow Smotrich and Ben- Gvir to deport us by ship?” Abbas asked rhetorically.

By Baruch Yedid, TPS

MK Mansour Abbas, leader of the Arab Ra’am Party (United Arab List), begged Arab Israelis on election night to come out and vote. His words of desperation came as reports indicate a meager voting rate among Arab Israelis against an overall national voting rate significantly higher than in recent elections.

Speaking to his supporters and to all Arab Israelis, Abbas said that “400,000 Arabs voted while 600,000 stayed at home. This is just about the lowest Arab turnout in 20 years compared to the highest Jewish turnout in 20 years.”

“I urge you all to get out and vote,” he declared.

But that was not all. In an attempt to stir up his base, Abbas alluded to what Israel’s Arab communities can expect, in his opinion, should there be a new right-wing government in Israel that includes the Religious Zionism party led by Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir. Abbas claimed that they want to force Arab Israelis out of the country.

“Will we allow Smotrich and Ben- Gvir to deport us by ship?” he asked his constituents rhetorically.

In fact, the Religious Zionism leaders have advocated deporting terrorists, but not peaceful, law-abiding citizens.

“My vision is a proud, strong Jewish state. I have no problem with our minorities—provided they are law-abiding citizens—but I do have a problem with those who raise a hand against our police and soldiers,” Ben-Gvir told JNS recently.

Earlier in the day, Abbas accused rival Arab party Hadash-Ta’al of “stealing” his party’s votes in Tuesday’s Knesset elections. In an exclusive interview, he told TPS, “He who wanted to save Hadash-Ta’al is endangering the very existence of Ra’am.”

An Islamist party, Ra’am is part of the current government coalition.

World Israel News contributed to this report.

The post Ra’am party leader pleaded for more Arabs to vote, said right wing wants to ‘deport’ them appeared first on World Israel News.

Caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid is apparently pinning his hopes on the Arab voters in order to win the national election.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

MK Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamist Ra’am party, urged Arab voters to cast a ballot for his faction in a last-minute push before the national elections, pledging that he would work to stop the influence of “far-right” politicians in the next government.

“By voting for Ra’am, each of you can achieve two goals, or as the saying goes, two birds with one stone, and they are to place the Arabs in the coalition and to place the extreme right in the opposition,” Abbas said in an Arabic language video released by his party, according to a translation from Arutz Sheva.

“Vote for us so that the Arabs will be in a decision-making position and the extreme right [will be stuck] in the opposition,” he continued.

“I am certainly aware that most members of our (Arab) society want the extreme right to remain in the opposition, just as Ra’am put it on the opposition benches last year…The vast majority of members of our (Arab) society know that the parties that join the coalition are the parties that take part in decision-making and have influence and the ability to present solutions.”

The Ra’am party made history in 2021 when it became the first Arab party to officially join an Israeli government coalition, led by former prime minister Naftali Bennett.

Bennett’s decision to partner with the Islamist party, which is rumored to have ties to the Hamas terror group, immediately sparked controversy. Protests broke out around the residences of Bennett and his party number two, Ayelet Shaked, as voters accused their right-wing Yamina party of betraying their voter base.

Although former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu originally denied that he had entered intense negotiations with Ra’am, which would see the party support a Likud-led coalition from the outside, the talks were seemingly confirmed by a leaked recording from Religious Zionism chair Betzalel Smotrich.

Abbas has repeatedly said that Netanyahu had offered his party a budget of some 15 billion shekels ($4.2 billion) for the Arab community had agreed to support him.

Meanwhile, it appears that caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid is pinning his hopes for a victory on the Arab population. Last Tuesday, he visited the predominantly Arab, northern-Israeli city of Nazareth, where he met with some 20 municipal leaders and urged them to vote. Reports had indicated a lack of enthusiasm among the Arab population to participate in this week’s elections.

The post ‘We’ll stop the right’ – Islamist party to Arab voters ahead of Israel’s election appeared first on World Israel News.

MK Iman Khatib-Yassin tells academic conference that Arab-Israelis “have suffered everyday since the occupation.”

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Dozens of students stormed out of an academic conference last week during a session on the relations between Arabs and Jews in Israeli politics, after an anti-Zionist MK declared that Arab citizens of Israel are Palestinians whom suffer from Jewish discrimination every day.

Ra’am MK Iman Khatib-Yassin made the comments at the Sderot conference of the Kay Academic College in Beersheba.

Khatib-Yassin, who was once a member of the Joint List but switched her allegiance to the Islamist Ra’am party in 2021, said that Arab-Israeli citizens are the victims of Zionist occupation.

“We have reached the point where we have the courage not only to say things, but also to do them. If someone does not want to do something for the sake of coexistence, let them not come to us with complaints,” she said, according to a report from Hebrew language outlet Maariv.

“We must live here in peace, and peace begins where there is no occupation. The true essence of partnership is the recognition of the occupation and discrimination against the Palestinian people…and recognizing [people like] me as having a clear Palestinian identity.”

She added that Arab-Israelis are “Palestinian residents who live in Israel and have suffered every day since the occupation,” referring to the establishment of the Jewish State in 1948.

Her remarks triggered a large walkout from the room. According to the Maariv report, around half of the attendees left the auditorium.

In March 2021, Khatib-Yassin was placed fifth on Ra’am’s party list. Ra’am earned four seats in the Knesset, leaving her out of the government until the untimely death of MK Said Al-Kharumi.

After Al-Kharumi died unexpectedly of a heart attack in August 2021, Khatib-Yassin took his place in the Knesset.

Khatib-Yassin, who is Israel’s first lawmaker to wear a hijab, but she says she supports women’s rights. She has also said that in her personal life, she observes Islamic law and therefore would not make overnight trips, even in her role as a politician, unless accompanied by an appropriate male chaperone such as her husband or father-in-law.

The post Massive student walkout after MK says Arab-Israelis suffer from occupation appeared first on World Israel News.

It appears likely that the Supreme Court will overturn the decision made by the Central Elections Committee.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

The Central Elections Committee voted 9-5 on Thursday to block the anti-Zionist Arab Balad party from running in the upcoming November national elections.

It was not only right-wing parties that voted against the run. Before the vote, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, head of the National Unity party, released a statement saying that his party’s representatives would oppose Balad.

“The Arab citizens of Israel deserve and are entitled to parliamentary representation, and even to coalition representation, but there are decisions that are above all narrow political considerations. There is no place in the Israeli Knesset for someone who operates in extremes against the state,” Gantz said.

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party boycotted the vote. “Today, the circus continues to try to disqualify Balad in order to kosher [Arab parties] Ra’am, Hadash and Ta’al,” Likud stated. “We will not participate in this show.”

Left-wing Meretz party MK Gaby Lasky noted that “many of the parties that aren’t here [to vote] are ones that petitioned to dismiss Balad in the past or voted in favor.

According to Lasky, “now they have a different political interest… to enable Balad to run in order to lose votes in the Arab sector, and in this way to get to the 61st seat.” Balad is not expected to meet the electoral threshold, and therefore, any votes for the party would be wasted rather than strengthening the Arab bloc.

Notably, the Islamist Ra’am party was not barred.

It is likely that Balad will appeal the decision at the Supreme Court and succeed it having it overturned. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is opposed to disqualifying the party.

“Today’s discussion in the election committee has no meaning because the Supreme Court will in any case legalize the running of the Arab parties that support terrorism,” the Religious Zionism party said in a statement.

“The Supreme Court has become a political player which did and is doing everything to harm the right and continue the rule of the left and the Arabs. We will bring real change after the elections. We will outlaw the Arab parties that support terrorism, and we will put an end to the rule of the Supreme Court.”

Ahead of the hearing, the Ad Kan organization, which exposes the activities of anti-Israel NGOs and the Islamist Movement, fought to have the Ra’am party disqualified.

“There is no place in the Knesset for representatives of a movement that operates in an institutionalized manner to aid declared terrorist elements and for the benefit of elements in enemy countries in violation of the law. The Islamic movement should be disqualified from running for the 25th Knesset,” the organization stated.

“Just yesterday, the chairman of the Islamic Movement published a notice of mourning for the death of Yusef al-Qaradawi, who was the religious authority that allowed Hamas to carry out suicide attacks and allowed the murder of every Jewish-Israeli within the framework of the Palestinian struggle. The Islamic Movement is a sister movement of Hamas, as defined by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. And the party has no place in the Knesset,” the statement read.

According to Ad Kan, “the Islamic Movement owns a wide variety of non-profit organizations, public benefit companies, and commercial companies, some of which were established after Ra’am entered the coalition, to absorb the budgets promised to the Arab sector in the coalition negotiations. The movement collects charity from its Muslim supporters in Israel amounting to tens of millions of shekels per year and transfers them to its various institutions to allegedly forbidden destinations.”

The post Anti-Zionist Arab party barred from running in upcoming Israeli election appeared first on World Israel News.

“My identity is very clear: I am Arab-Palestinian,” Mansour Abbas said, distancing himself from any identification with the State of Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

The head of the Islamist Ra’am party, which made history as the first Arab party to be part of an Israeli government coalition, said during a recent interview that he identifies as an Arab Palestinian and distanced himself from the idea that he could identify with the State of Israel.

While speaking to reporters from Yediot Ahronot, Mansour Abbas said he was pained by the recent conflict with Gaza, which saw Israel eliminate targets affiliated with the Islamic Jihad terror group.

When asked if he was pained by the bombing of the Strip, Abbas said, “Of course. There is no doubt. My identity is very clear: I am Arab-Palestinian.”

He added that he wants the “Palestinian people to accept their right to self-determination and realize their potential and establish their state next to the State of Israel.”

Abbas’ declaration of his Arab Palestinian identity is significant, as he has traditionally portrayed himself as a citizen of Israel interested in building a better future for the Jewish State. He has made a number of comments in the past aimed at easing the Israeli public’s fears around his reportedly Hamas-linked party becoming part of a governing coalition.

“Israel was born a Jewish state, that was the decision of the people, and the question is not what is the identity of the state — it was born this way and it will remain this way,” Abbas said at a conference in December 2021.

Upon becoming the coalition kingmaker after the April 2021 elections, Abbas declared that he prioritized “mutual respect and cooperation” between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel.

The MK also told Yediot Ahronot that former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had courted the Ra’am party, a claim he has made before as well.

Though Netanyahu was wary of formally including Ra’am in a coalition, mostly due to opposition from Religious Zionism head Betzalel Smotrich, the-then premier repeatedly engaged in negotiations to enlist Ra’am’s external support, Abbas said.

Abbas met with Netanyahu at his Balfour residence while the May 2021 Israel-Gaza clash Operation Guardian of the Walls raged, the MK said.

“The negotiations were aimed at preventing the establishment of the new government,” Abbas said. “During Operation Guardian of the Walls, I maintained direct contact with Netanyahu. I participated in three meetings in Balfour during the operation.”

The post Rebranding? ‘I’m an Arab Palestinian,’ says Arab party head appeared first on World Israel News.

Just 39% of Arab Israelis intend to vote in November, according to a Kan News poll • Netanyahu’s Likud Party is projected to gain 1.5 mandates among Arab voters.

By JNS

Only 39% of Israeli Arabs intend to vote in the Nov. 1 elections, according to a report published on Sunday by Kan News.

According to the report, which was compiled by the Stat Net Research Institute, this is the lowest figure ever recorded among Arab Israeli citizens.

According to the poll, 44.6% of Arab Israelis voted in the elections in 2021, down from the peak figure of 64.8% in 2020.

In projecting future election results within the Arab sector, the poll found that the Joint List, which includes the Balad Party, would obtain five Knesset seats—one fewer than it currently possesses. According to the results, the United Arab List Party (Ra’am), led by Mansour Abbas, would get four mandates.

The poll also found that the Likud Party would obtain a seat and a half among Arab Israeli voters, whereas the Balad Party would not clear the electoral threshold if it ran on its own.

The remaining Arab parties were projected to win a total of eight seats—down from the 10 seats they collectively hold now.

The post Arab turnout in Israel’s upcoming elections projected to hit all-time low appeared first on World Israel News.

Ra’am party takes credit for bringing ‘tens of thousands’ of Gazans to work in Israel.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

As election campaigns get underway, Ra’am head Mansour Abbas has begun burnishing his party’s pro-Palestinian credentials, telling Arabic-language Nasradio that it is to their credit that so many Gazans can work in Israel now, Israel National News reported Monday.

In the interview, Abbas defended his party’s groundbreaking participation in the coalition over the past year by noting how it had benefited both Arab Israelis and Palestinians.

“This government managed to improve certain relations in less than a year, with the Palestinian Authority, with the Gaza Strip,” he said. “Tens of thousands of workers… enter [Israel] and return [to the Gaza Strip] with their livelihood and improve their living conditions, but we are also creating a dynamic of change in the [government’s] basic political positions, and this takes time.”

In addition, “The United Arab List (Ra’am) succeeded in strengthening and empowering our Arab society in Israel, and at the end this will benefit the Palestinian issue.”

Ra’am received tens of billions of shekels in government budgets for economic and job development, infrastructure and housing for Arab towns, and fighting rampant crime in the Arab sector after joining the Bennett-Lapid coalition last year.

As head of the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement, Abbas noted that his organization “serves the Palestinian people” by directly supporting issues such as “the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

During the violent Palestinian riots on the Temple Mount in May, Abbas demanded a return to the “status quo” – meaning that Jews should be prohibited from praying at their holiest site – and threatened to leave the coalition otherwise.

Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, remains firmly opposed to Abbas, although Ra’am had temporarily suspended its participation in the coalition at the time. The terrorist group’s leader Yihye Sinwar called the Ra’am chief a traitor nonetheless.

“That you serve as a support to this government which violates Al-Aqsa is an unforgivable crime,” Sinwar said. “The fact that you are acting as a security blanket for this government is a crime for which you will never be forgiven. You are rejecting your religion, your Arab identity and your national identity.”

Ra’am’s party platform has Islamism as a central tenet and includes the demand for a Palestinian state in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and Gaza Strip, with eastern Jerusalem as its capital.

Abbas endeared himself to many Israelis when at a conference last December, he said, “The State of Israel was born as a Jewish state. That’s the people’s decision and the question is not about the identity of the state. It was born that way and that’s how it will remain.”

Sinwar was scathing in his denouncement of that statement as well, saying, “For an Arab to say that this is a Jewish state is the height of degeneracy.”

The post Ra’am empowered Arab society in Israel, will help Palestinian cause, says party chief appeared first on World Israel News.

Protocol requires Knesset lawmakers to get police permission, but most Arab MKs go to the holy site without asking.

By Aryeh Savir, TPS

Member of Knesset (MK) Mansour Abbas, of the Islamist Ra’am Party, is facing heavy criticism from his Arab colleagues after requesting permission from Israeli authorities before his visit to the Temple Mount.

For security reasons and due to the sensitivity of the site, the protocol requires an MK to receive permission from the Israel Police and the Knesset Officer before visiting the Temple Mount, as such a visit may generate a diplomatic or security incident.

However, such a request can be construed as recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the holy site, and most Arab MKs refrain from requesting such permission.

Abbas visited the Temple Mount on Sunday after receiving the required permits.

Abbas denied that he coordinated his visit but Walla! News obtained the written documents from the Knesset and police confirming that he did file the request.

In response, the Joint List, an Arab-majority list and a rival of Ra’am, issued an announcement in Arabic against Abbas, saying that his visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque “in coordination with the occupation police constitutes a dangerous precedent and recognition of Israel’s sovereignty.”

The majority of Israel’s non-Zionist and Arab MKs do not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over eastern Jerusalem.

The post Arab MK under fire from Arab colleagues for requesting permission to visit Temple Mount appeared first on World Israel News.

The terror group praised MK Ghanaim for voting against Judea and Samaria bill while the Ra’am party leader was blasted for cozying up to “fascists.”

By World Israel News Staff

A senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad praised rebel coalition MK Mazen Ghanaim (Ra’am party) for “standing with his people.”

The terror group also condemned the Islamist party leader, Mansour Abbas, for remaining in the “fascist occupation government.”

Along with Meretz lawmaker Ghaida Rinawie-Zoabi, Ghanaim recently opposed renewing a decades-old emergency bill extending the application of Israeli civil and criminal law in Judea and Samaria in what was seen as a major blow to the teetering coalition.

“We appreciate the positions of Mazen Ghanaim and call on him to continue to stand with his people,” Khader Habib said, according to Israel Hayom.

“Mazen Ghanaim sided with the Palestinian cause and his people, and he knows the Zionist enemy is a liar and cannot provide anything to the Palestinian Arab public that lives in Israel,” he said.

Abbas, “whose fate is tied to that of his people in Palestine that the Zionist enemy wants to dissolve, stuns us with his insistence on remaining in the occupation government, the most radical of occupation and fascist governments.

“Mansour Abbas is a partner to the criminal attack on Jerusalem,” he added.

“The current government continues to perpetrate crimes against the Palestinian people everywhere and acts with a firm hand to harm Jerusalem and drive us out of Jerusalem. The significance of Abbas’ insistence on remaining in the government is his direct participation in the war alongside the Zionist enemy for Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestinians everywhere,” Habib said.

He charged Abbas with being “desperate to defend Zionist criminals” and called on Ghanaim and other “Palestinians who reside in Israel not to believe the false desires and promises of the occupation government.”

Ghanaim has been under pressure to resign his seat in the coalition but has said he has no plans to acquiesce.

The post Islamic Jihad hails Arab coalition member for ‘standing with the Palestinians’ appeared first on World Israel News.