National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party called for Ra’am chairman MK Mansour Abbas to be disqualified from running for the Knesset following remarks he made on Wednesday morning, saying Arab parties were forced to accept Israel as a Jewish state to avoid being barred from elections.
“The senior partner of [Naftali] Bennett and [Gadi] Eisenkot in a future government admits that he does not recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish state,” the party’s statement read.
“We would tell you that what he is saying is delusional, but we are not surprised. He is from the Muslim Brotherhood. The delusion is that Eisenkot and Bennett dream every night about how they will form a government with him.”
Abbas’s post was apparently a clarification after criticism over comments he made during an appearance on Channel 12’s “Meet the Press,” where Amit Segal confronted him with previous statements he had made, including his assertion that “Zionist gangs conquered Palestine.”
Segal said Abbas had indicated in the interview that he would not use the same formulation now. In his Wednesday post, Abbas maintained that changing his political language did not amount to abandoning his Palestinian identity or narrative.
“Is it not possible that different wording and a different political approach could actually express the truth of the Nakba, draw lessons from the historical experience accurately and wisely, and present a practical vision for the future? Could this not provide an opportunity to gain influence that would enable us to address the injustices and wounds we inherited from our ongoing Nakba, prevent a new displacement in its various forms, and move beyond the historical narrative in order to write the narrative of the future we aspire to?” Abbas posted on Facebook.
Abbas: Accepting Israel as Jewish state was 'imposed on us'
Regarding the Jewish character of the state, Abbas wrote that it was “a reality imposed on us and we did not choose it,” adding that it reflected the choice of Israel’s Jewish majority rather than a demand by Arab citizens.
“The Arab parties were forced to accept it practically, otherwise they would be eliminated in the parliamentary and local elections,” he noted.
Abbas said his political priority was instead to strengthen the standing of Arab citizens, secure national and civil rights, and seek influence within government rather than remain permanently in the opposition.
Abbas reiterated that his position supporting “the recognition of the Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel” was well known.
“Our supreme interest is to replace this racist government, even if it means paying the personal cost,” he wrote. “The necessity of lifting and removing injustice, warding off and reducing corruption, and bringing and increasing benefits requires us to take all possible measures to achieve this.”
Winter, Erdan also call to bar Abbas from Knesset
Otzma Yehudit’s statement further warned that “Eisenkot and Bennett will let Mansour take control of the National Security Ministry. They will let him stop home demolitions in the Negev and enforcement against noise from the muezzin, shut down the protection-racket and polygamy units established by Minister Ben-Gvir, and turn the Galilee and the Negev into Hamastan.”
Brig.-Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter, chairman of the newly launched Amcha Yisrael Party, also stated that anyone who does not recognize Israel as a Jewish state should not be eligible for election to the Knesset.
“Anyone who does not recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish state can go to any Arab country he wants. And certainly such a person must not be allowed to be elected to the Knesset of Israel,” Winter said.
“It is time to understand: What was will be no more.”
Former Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, chairman of the Unity Party, also decried the statement, saying that Abbas was “pulling the wool over the Election Committee’s eyes and pulling the wool over the public’s eyes, and there are those who fall into his trap.”
“He does not want a Jewish state here; he wants an Islamic caliphate. Only a broad unity government will ensure a Zionist government, without Abbas and without deception,” Erdan said.