Ra'am's Abbas: Israel is a Jewish state and will remain so

The point of view of Arab parties in the past has been that Israel should be a state of all its citizens, not a Jewish state.

By GIL HOFFMAN Published: DECEMBER 21, 2021 12:14

Updated: DECEMBER 21, 2021 13:49

"The State of Israel was born as a Jewish state, and it will remain one," Ra'am (United Arab List) leader Mansour Abbas said on Tuesday at a conference of the Hebrew business newspaper Globes.

The statement by Abbas in an interview with Channel 12 analyst Muhammad Magadli was considered historic, because it is very different from the view of Arab parties until now.

The point of view of Arab parties in the past has been that Israel should be a state of all its citizens, not a Jewish state.

Arab parties have supported changing the Law of Return to make it easier for Arabs to move to Israel and gain a majority.

Joint List MK and Balad Party leader Sami Abou Shehadeh responded by accusing Abbas of "having a split personality" and making contradictory statements in Hebrew and Arabic.

"Only a state of all its citizens can bring about justice and full equality among all citizens," Abou Shehadeh said

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) and Ra'am faction head Waleed Taha will meet on Tuesday night in an effort to resolve their differences.

Taha has been boycotting votes in the Knesset plenum to protest statements Shaked has made about his bill that would hook up thousands of illegally built Arab homes to the national electricity grid.

Ra'am MK Mazen Ghenayim threatened to bring about the end of the coalition over the bill on Tuesday in an interview with KAN's Arabic radio station. But Abbas has repeatedly downplayed the coalition crisis.

Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) will mediate between Shaked and Taha on Tuesday night.

photo captions:

MANSOUR ABBAS, head of the Ra’am Party, is seen after signing the coalition agreement, at Kfar Maccabiah in Ramat Gan, earlier this month.(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)

AFTER THE right-wing parties of the opposition voted against it, members of the Joint List celebrate the defeat of the citizenship law in the Knesset this week. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)