Mansour Abbas (Arabic:منصور عباس;Hebrew:מַנְסוּר עַבַּאס; born 22 April 1974)[1] is anIsraeli Arab politician. He is currently the leader of theUnited Arab List and represents the party in theKnesset. He was appointed as the chair of Special Committee on Arab Society Affairs in the Knesset on 27 April 2021.[2] In 2021 Abbas made history by becoming the first Israeli Arab political leader to join anIsraeli governing coalition.[3][4] He is a dentist by trade.
Abbas was born in the town ofMaghar in theNorthern District of Israel, to a Muslim-Arabic family. His parents were farmers, and he had 10 siblings.[5] He began delivering sermons at the Peace Mosque in Maghar at the age of 17. He defines himself also as a Palestinian.
He attended theHebrew University of Jerusalem to study dentistry. Abbas qualified as a dentist, though as of October 2023 his licence to practice has lapsed.[6][7] While at the university, he served as chair of the Arab Students Committee between 1997 and 1998.
In 2007, Abbas became Secretary General of the United Arab List,[8] and in 2010 he was elected Deputy Chairman of the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement.
In theApril 2019 Knesset election, Abbas was nominated by theUnited Arab List andBalad to lead their joint party in the election.[9] He was subsequently elected to the Knesset as the alliance won four seats. Abbas attracted controversy when he spoke in support ofconversion therapy toLGBTQ+ youth in an interview withWalla News, leading to his condemnation by other Joint List politicians.[10]
Further divisiveness was caused by Abbas's apparent attempt to improve ties with Israeli prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud party. He gave an interview with the right-wing pro-NetanyahuChannel 20 Network, where he advocated working with Zionist parties in order to secure the funds and reforms needed for the benefit of Arab Israeli society.[11]
On 21 April 2020, Abbas delivered a historic speech on theHolocaust in the Knesset in which he spoke of the suffering of the Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis. Abbas stated: "As a religious Palestinian Muslim Arab, who was raised on the legacy of Sheikh Abdullah Nimr Darwish who founded the Islamic Movement, I have empathy for the pain and suffering over the years of Holocaust survivors and the families of the murdered." He added, "I stand here to show solidarity with the Jewish people here and forever."[12]
Abbas joined the rest of the Joint List in voting against theAbraham Accords. He described his vote as a protest against the lack of a peace treaty with the Palestinians, adding, "If there will be a real agreement with the Palestinians, there will be real agreements with 55 Muslim countries. But what truly matters is that we are Israelis, and our actions are not supposed to be influenced by whether there is peace with Bahrain."[13]
In January 2021, in the buildup to the2021 elections, the United Arab List split from the Joint List.[14] Analysts attributed the split to a larger, more fundamental disagreement about whether to engage fully with Israeli politics as a means to improve quality of life for Arab Israeli citizens, which Abbas advocates, or to reject full engagement with domestic Israeli politics in order to focus on the largerIsraeli-Palestinian conflict.[7][15][16][17][18][19] Abbas attributed this position to the influence of his mentor, Sheikh Abdullah, and described Abdullah's funeral as a philosophical turning point for him.[5][17]
During the2021 Israeli-Palestinian crisis, Abbas condemned the burning of several synagogues inLod by rioters, appealing to Muslim values and respect for the rule of law and vowing to help rebuild them. His actions earned him both praise from Jewish leaders and politicians, and anger from Muslim leaders, including calls to resign.[20][7][21][22][23]
According to the by-laws of the party, limiting MKs to three terms, Abbas was ineligible to run again for office in the 2021 elections. Abbas stated "I have to respect the institutions of Ra'am, if the bylaws are not changed, even though they didn't anticipate four elections in two years when they made the rules."[13] However, he ran in the election as party leader and the United Arab List won four seats.
On 2 June 2021, after holding negotiations with Israeli opposition figuresYair Lapid andNaftali Bennett, Abbas renewed his commitment to backing a non-Netanyahu government after signing a coalition agreement with Lapid, thereby forming thethirty-sixth government of Israel.[24][25] A photograph of Abbas signing the agreement, which madeRa'am the first independent Arab party to be part of a governing coalition, was widely circulated; after signing it, Bennett praised Abbas as a "courageous" leader.[26][27][28] The agreement included pledges to spend approximatelyUS$16 billion to improve infrastructure and reduce crime in Arab towns, to protect homes built without permits in Arab villages, and to recognize fourBedouin towns in theNegev desert.[29][30]
On 28 October 2021 the Israeli cabinet approved a plan to spendUS$9.4 billion to improve employment opportunities and health services for Israeli Arabs and improve housing, technology, and infrastructure in Arab areas;[31][32] it included a furtherUS$1 billion to address high crime rates in Arab areas.[31][33] Abbas was widely credited with accomplishing an "historic step" forward for Arab Israelis in securing this unprecedented amount of funding.[15][34] The plan was signed into law when the budget passed on 4 November 2021.[35]
Under Abbas's direction the coalition government recognized several Bedouin villages and has connected tens of thousands of previously illegal homes to the electrical grid.[15][36][37][38]
On 9 November 2021 Abbas met withKing Abdullah II of Jordan, the first occasion where the king has met an Arab party leader who is a sitting member of the Israeli government; the two discussed the peace process and reiterated their support for a two-state solution.[39][40]
On 21 December 2021 Abbas said that Israel was born as a Jewish state and will remain so, provoking outrage from members of other Arab parties.[41][42] On 10 February 2022 Abbas rejectedAmnesty International's charge thatIsrael is an apartheid state, saying of Israel: "I would not call it apartheid."[43][44]
He condemned the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.[48][49] On 1 December 2023, he said that "armed Palestinian factions need to stop using weapons and turn to a diplomatic project with the Palestinian Authority to strengthen the chances of a Palestinian state and announce an inclusive and permanent ceasefire to bring about peace and an end to" theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict. In response, Israel's National Security MinisterItamar Ben-Gvir called him a "terrorist supporter", Finance MinisterBezalel Smotrich accused him of supporting Israel's enemies, and Legislative Committee ChairmanSimcha Rothman accused Abbas and the United Arab List of being "supporters of terrorism". On the other hand, Israel'sLabor Party leaderMerav Michaeli praised Abbas, saying his statements demonstrate "a committed and real Jewish-Arab partnership".[50]
Abbas has been stated to beconservative andsocially conservative and has opposed pro-LGBT legislation.[51][52] He has also spoken out in support ofconversion therapy for LGBT people.[53] He is frequently referred to as anIslamist.[51][54] He has lambasted political parties on the Israeli left, saying, "What have I to do with the left? … in religious matters, I'mright-wing" and said that he has more in common with conservative Jewish ultra-Orthodox parties than withsocially liberal parties.[51]
Abbas publicly accepts Israel as ade facto Jewish state and states that it does not practice apartheid.[55][56] His decision to do so during comments he made at a business conference caused an uproar among some in the Arab public.[56]
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