Mansour Abbas blasts Hamas for interfering in Arab-Israeli affairs

Mansour Abbas, leader of the Israeli government’s Arab Islamist Ra’am party, has slammed Hamas terrorist organization for its malicious influence within the Arab-Israeli community, which constitutes approximately 20% of Israel’s total population.

Abbas accused the Gaza-ruling terrorist organization Hamas of dragging Arab Israelis into destructive violence.

“A great catastrophe, nothing less than that. The mere thought of dragging Palestinian Arab citizens inside Israel into acts of violence of all kinds brings a new calamity,” said Abbas in an interview with Israel’s i24News channel.

Abbas has become something of an enigma on Israel’s political stage. While heading an Islamist party affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, Knesset Member Abbas has officially called for dialogue and peace between Israel’s Jewish majority and Arab minority populations. In June 2021, Abbas’ Ra’am party made history by becoming the first Israeli Arab party to officially join an Israeli government.

Israeli Arab lawmakers have traditionally focused disproportionally on blasting the Jewish state for the seemingly intractable conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. By contrast, in recent years Abbas has stressed that his main focus is on integrating Arab Israelis into the Jewish state and improving the socio-economic situation in their daily lives.

Abbas officially says he supports the establishment of an Arab state alongside Israel. At the same time, the Arab Israeli lawmaker urged Arab leaders in Gaza, Samaria and Judea to stop interfering in the domestic affairs of Arab-Israeli citizens.

“We ask all Palestinian leaders not to interfere in the internal affairs of the Palestinian Arab people, who are citizens of Israel,” Abbas told i24News.