Mansour Abbas is an Israeli Arab, a member of the Knesset, and the head of the Arab Islamist party, Ra’am, that is part of the governing coalition headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. He has now publicly called on his fellow Israeli Arabs to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. This recognition of reality has naturally caused an uproar.
Abbas has made history before. On April 21, 2020, he delivered a historic speech on the Holocaust 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 Abdallah 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.” A report on his latest statement, and the reaction to it, is here: “The day Mansour Abbas told Israeli Arabs to accept Israel as a Jewish state,” by Kenneth Jacobson, Times of Israel, December 24, 2021:
These days Mansour Abbas never fails to surprise.
The leader of the Islamist party in Israel, historically seen as sitting on the more extreme side of the Arab parties in Israel, has now made a very clear statement calling on Israeli Arabs to accept the reality and legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state. His statement reflects a pragmatic approach to Israeli society and politics that first emerged in his historic decision to join the governing coalition headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
Much attention then was appropriately paid to the fact that for the first time in the history of Israel, an Arab political party is part of the governing coalition, indeed not only a part, but a key to the formation and survival of this government. It was seen as an indicator and a catalyst from the Jewish side for improved Jewish-Arab relations within Israeli society.
Less focused but equally important was the fact that Abbas’s decision to join the government was a leap of faith coming from an Arab party that has historically taken stances deemed severely critical of Israel. With this consequential step, the party has shown a willingness to stand with their partners in the coalition during challenging times, particularly the contentious budget test that was just passed with flying colors.
When Mansour Abbas’ Ra’am Party was asked to join the Bennett government, this was taken as a sign of the coalition’s willingness to improve Jewish-Arab relations. And his decision to accept the offer, despite his party’s history of criticism of Israel, was a signal from the Arab side that it was willing to work with, and govern alongside, Israeli Jews.
Indeed, Abbas’s statement about coming to grips with the existence of the Jewish state can be in the long run as significant a step as his joining the governing coalition….
First, of course, is its potential impact on Israeli Arabs themselves, to whom Abbas addressed his remarks. In effect, he was saying to his own community that we need to get past old controversies, recognize the reality of the Jewish State, and move on. Inherent in such a comment was both an element of facing reality, that Israel is here to stay, as well as a recognition that continuing to question the legitimacy of the Jewish state ill serves the interests of the Israel’s Arab citizens.
Abbas is asking his fellow Israeli Arabs to be realists. Whether they like it or not, Israel is here to stay. All the many efforts to destroy it have failed; the Jewish state has only become stronger, politically and economically, as it met every challenge to its existence and wellbeing. For the Arabs of Israel, he was saying it’s time to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and thereby to earn the trust of the Israeli Jews who, after all, have the power to better the lives of Israeli Arabs.
Connected to this was the second part of Abbas’s statement, in which he went on to say that the issue that should be the focus going forward is not whether there should be a Jewish state, but what the role of the Israeli Arab community should be within this Jewish state.
This is an entirely legitimate and important question. Dealing with issues of inequality in education, employment, and safety for many Israeli Arab communities are important matters. So is improving relations between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews. Raising the question of the legitimacy of the Jewish state had served as an obstacle to addressing these concerns which often times go to the heart of the animosity and grievances between the two communities….
At the same time, Abbas’s remarks speak to Israel’s Jewish majority. This has the potential of a breakthrough in beginning to put aside the ideological issues that have so often led Israeli Jews to hesitate about addressing the issues of inequality in the Arab community because of the fear that that the ultimate goal, at least among some of the most vocal, was the end or transformation of the Jewish state….
Abbas wants to convince Israeli Arabs to accept this reality, to earn the trust of the Jews who quite understandably need reassurance that the great majority of Israel’s Arabs are not going to work to undo the state. In turn, he expects – and so far he has been proven correct — that the Jews will be more willing to better the condition of Israeli Arabs. A gigantic step in that direction has already been made by the Bennett government, which has committed itself to spending 10 billion shekels ($337 million dollars) to improve the educational and employment opportunities for the country’s Arabs.
Beyond Israel itself is the question whether this message will be heard by the Palestinians. The theme of moving away from rejectionist ideology that has hurt the Arabs themselves is even more significant when it comes to the Palestinians. Looking at the sad history, it is hard to conclude that Abbas’ pronouncement will change Palestinian thinking, but the fact that an Islamist leader has thrown into the public discussion the notion of fully accepting the idea of a Jewish state could have ripple effects that are not currently foreseeable….
The Palestinians heard Abbas’ message about accepting the reality of Israel as a Jewish state, and they angrily rejected it, just as they reject the existence of Israel. They remain committed to the Jewish state’s destruction – whether by the PA’s Slow Jihad or Hamas’ Fast Jihad — and its replacement by an Arab state. But perhaps his message will cause some of the Palestinians to bethink themselves, to recognize that his realism is not a betrayal of them, but the best way to improve the lives of Israel’s Arabs.
Mansour Abbas initially denounced the Abraham Accords. But he has come to appreciate the desire of its Arab members to further their own self-interest, and refusal to be held back by a Palestinian veto on their actions. As the normalization of ties took hold, Abbas could see for himself the economic benefits to Israel’s new Arab partners, especially the U.A.E. In trade, tourism, and technology, there have already been at least $675 million in deals signed between Israel and the U.A.E. Abbas has decided that, in the same way, Israel’s Arabs need not be held hostage to the Palestinians, but should further their own interests, as citizens of Israel, despite Palestinian opposition. in his dramatic recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, he has helped to reassure some – of course not all – Israelis.
Mansour Abbas belongs to the Tip O’Neill school of “all politics is local”; like O’Neill, Abbas wants “jobs for the boys,” better schools, neighborhood health centers, all that sort of thing, for his own constituents, the Israeli Arabs. He’s not about to sacrifice their wellbeing to the diktats of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. And he has already obtained an enormous commitment from the government – 10 billion shekels — to help the Israeli Arabs whom he now so ably represents.
Infidel says
Abbas would do well to convert to Judaism, since the sentiments he expressed run counter to anything islam teaches
Frank Anderson says
Promise anything. When made to worthless unbelievers, it means nothing. That has been the rule for 1400 years and will never change.
Infidel says
That’s a part of what drove my above comment. As long as he remains muslim, anything he says to the above effect deserves to be taken w/ a pinch of salt
Frank Anderson says
I., we seem to agree the vast majority of the time; and certainly do this time. From what we see many people do not care about the history of deception practiced by islam as a basic part of its rules forever.
Short backgound: I was the video recording person my last 2 years in law school. I was asked to record mock negotiating sessions for a class, causing me to become interested in the subject. I purchased and read 6 paperback books to learn enough without having to spend the time and money taking the class. Every one of those books, from a spectrum of authors, agreed that negotiating with a liar is a total waste. In over 40 years of being a licensed attorney, now retired, I have confirmed that rule many times.
Any present muslim who talks moderation or reform is a liar. Regardless of other credentials, as long as a person continues to support the goals of war, conquest, looting, slavery and murder, all words should be dismissed as lies. I ask you and anyone reading to take a few minutes to search for and read the case from the Southern District of Alabama, available for free online, United States v. Gary Greenough, 609 F. Supp 1090 (S.D. Ala. 1985), for an excellent explanation of the law of conspiracy, both civil and criminal.
Keith O says
I wonder how long he has to live?
Some nut job, I mean holy man, will condemn him for not being Islamic enough and then his days will be numbered.
A great pity really, as a voice of reason always seems to be silenced by the voices of those who’s grip on power will be eroded if the masses listen.
Frank Anderson says
K.O., he might IF he were truly speaking reform, moderation or apostasy. BUT if he is doing what has been taught and practiced, saying anything to obtain advantage, there will be no problem. The only time a worthless non-believer should ever TRY to trust a believer is when he becomes a former believer and rejects the criminal conspiracy. MY personal example, of many others, is Mark Gabriel, who wrote The Unfinished Battle. This man wrote the truth and has taken his steps to live it.
Oren says
I constantly have to repeat myself, which humorously makes me feel like the Grinch who stole Christmas, which may actually be appropriate, but Mansour Abbas supports discriminating against Jews on the Temple on the Mount. He has called for recognizing illegal arab muslim building of homes in area C, which leads to A two state situation, which is A threat to the survival of Israel.
It offers no benefit, because no attempt to persuade the muslims to change their minds has been made, only A complete lie has been surrendered to. Even reinforcing the idea that lies and violence work against lying westerners and their frightened Jewish subordinates. The koran calls for muslims to use violence and terror to conquer their enemies. The desire of all the secular Jew haters in history, is to force the Jews to serve their people, or to exterminate them, by force, never agreeing to compete with Jews peacefully.
This also violates the Oslo accords that were abandoned, but the Israeli establishment still mentions them to curtail Jewish rights to build, but never mentioning the requirements on muslims of course.
So basically, Israel is in the middle of A slanderous war, where laws and agreements are nothing more than words, with most of the Israeli media, politicians and schools on the side of Israel’s enemies, screaming accept whatever lies are demanded of us, Jews can not be permitted to stand up to muslim racism, hatred and aggressive objectives. Predictably Mansour Abbas is on the side of those calling for the Jews to surrender their right to justice, their security, dignity, legal rights, and land rights.
No laws can be written that make sense, because the truth is that the only policy being embraced, is that Jews should be made to suffer, and their enemies should be permitted victory. That’s why the law lacks integrity, they cannot admit the farce of citing Oslo, that was abandoned, while not permitting Oslos rules pertaining to the muslims to be enforced, and taking A step further than Oslo and forcing Jews to surrender land to muslims.
It is A miracle that anything was said that contradicted the collective objectives of the muslims, but that should only serve as A proof of how far away the muslims are from being the good neighbors that the Jewish people would need them to be, in order to be able to radically compromise Israel’s borders, to establish A country without an army for the ‘palestinians’ to live in and accept.
If Israel is not A Jewish nation, what is it? A muslim nation, or A multicultural nation? Both options are completely rejected by the Jewish people, yet the majority of Israel’s arab muslims do not accept that the Jewish race should be permitted to have A sovereign nation. Jewish identity and pride equal racism and oppression to the muslim mind that has demonized Jews. Jewish self esteem and celebration of achievments are racist bragging to muslims, who like africans scream how they are the greatest.
The muslim and leftist worldview permits muslim people the right to an identity, A religion, and nations where muslims make the laws, openly working in their favor. I think muslims have naturally hypocritical notions about how hospitable muslims really are to non muslims, and how hospitable they used to be to non muslims.
A case can be made that due to the Israeli medias censorship, as well as American and European censorship of all negative historical incidents perpetrated by muslims, and the adoption of critical and strategic lies about the Jews of Israel, many muslims and western people do not even know that islam is and has always been far more racist than Judaism, which includes the actions of the muslim people.
So, who do we blame? If the creation, or at least continuation of western propaganda enables muslim racism to remain virulent and hidden, and the solution to end it, is to stop repeating western lies about Israel, and the Israeli establishment forbids free speech, and conceals the truth as well, how do we get out of these lies? Perhaps our efforts at learning the truth, and spreading them credit the secret account of our people, which will one day lead to the exposure of the false paradigm.
The same conclusion goes for lowering your guard and thinking that muslim participation in Israeli democracy and government is not A threat to the survival of Israel, and A tremendous force to cover up muslim threats against Jews, and muslim attacks against Jews, and censor discussion about muslim motivation. Vast percentages of muslims wish to hurt the Jewish people and nation any way they are able.
Our media is on the side of those begging to give the muslims whatever they want in the hopes of avoiding A confrontation. Imagine how absurd it is, to admit that muslims are responsible for more terrorism than any other group or ideology in 50 countries around the world, and the conversation can be ended by saying it is all because of Israel. That’s evidence of some radical hysteria over Jews, Muslims, race relations, and other extremely limited thinking.
We do not know the level of corruption and outright treason that muslims represent, in Israeli democracy, but we can say that easily half of all muslims have A near homicidal hatred of Jews and Israel. Easily A third more try to be moderate, but would surrender to threats to sabotage Israel, from whatever government positions they were given, without much opposition. Those muslim moderates rightfully assume if Israel is to survive on the compassion of the muslims, it was meant to die anyway. I dont believe that more than 5% of arab muslims are firm in their beliefs in tolerating Jews, living with them in peace, fighting for democracy, representation, fair distribution of resources. Take your pick. Currently there is no official job that muslims are not permitted to have in the Israeli government.
All Israeli spies are in danger with muslims in the Israeli government. All Jewish IDF units are in danger of being stabbed in the back. Every Jew walking into A courtroom with A muslim judge, or A muslim attorney, is in danger of punishment and suffering for being A Jew. Every Jewish patient going to A hospital with muslim staff and doctors, is in danger of being harmed by the massive censored hatred that exists against Jews by muslims. There is no system of checking to see if muslims hate Jews, during the hiring process.
There is no monitoring of employees to determine if their feelings towards Jews has changed. Entire aspects of life are influenced by events like births, deaths, looming awareness of our mortality that bring us closer to our religions. In the case of muslims that is A religion that reflected the toleration levels that existed among arabs in the 6th century.
It has been 3500 years since the pharos of Egypt realized that the Jews were A different people, and that their influence was A threat to the gentiles of Egypt. They assumed without hesitation that the Jews might side with their enemies, because they knew that the way they treated Jews would not garner A commitment to their people’s unity. It is A literal admission, that they were aware that they hated Jews, and that they could not help but harm them. Zero attempt was made to reform the behavior of the gentiles of Egypt.
How much American reverence for Jews was A result of the horrors of the holocaust, how much of it is A result of simulated peer pressure from the media, and how much is due to A genuine commitment to the ideals of toleration, freedom, merit and more? We know have generations that are being raised desensitized to the horrors of the holocaust. Will America remain A supporter of Israel?
Today we live in A time when the inequality of Jews persists, and everyone knows it. The americans and the Europeans have decided not to discuss the matter. But that is not the solution that the muslims have called for. There are no pages in the koran that say we are all equal. There are no pages that say we should all be treated as equals, and when we forget our differences, all the racial conflict and inequality that exists in the world will fade out of existence.
There are no Jewish teachings saying we are all equal, but this arrangement maximizing peace, is so fragile that even Jews are not permitted to know that their religion does not believe in equality or peaceful coexistence.
There are no video recordings of muslim imams, telling muslim congregants that Jews are no different than muslims. Occasionally some muslim politician will say something about Jew hatred being wrong, without recognizing that Jews are usually the number one victims of hate crimes, despite their small population, and muslims are often the perpetrators of those hate crimes.
I suppose some of the reason this system is embraced, is because it works. Tell the truth about muslims, they will realize that they will not be able to win covertly, and they will start killing Jews and Christians openly. Deny the Jews equal rights before the law, lie about it, cover up the Jewish victims as best you are able, and no Jews will start killing police or muslims.
The middle eastern Egyptian pharos hated Jews long before the koran told their descendants to. Vast amount of secular Israeli muslims also have strong feelings of hatred towards Jews. How strong are our systems to protect us from these bad muslims getting A job as A doctor, a judge, or A politician with access to Israeli spy lists in the middle east? Ask yourself when was the last time you heard of A doctor, or nurse or lawyer under investigation for growing hatred of Jews. How many are in your children’s school? In charge of ensuring your children’s safety? 50% of muslims hold serious homicidal feelings towards Jews. Zero muslims in any critical capacity have been investigated or relieved of duty, or denied any job in the Israeli government, or anywhere in the private sector.
We live in A time of great denial, and great censorship. The horrible consequence of this state of affairs, is inevitably A vast number of Israeli Jews suffering tremendously, without ever getting exposure, or justice for the horrible things that have happened to them. Possibly the worst part is knowing that the Israeli government is unreliable, and so many of our fellow Jews live in delusion and cannot be counted on to support us.
G-d has created societies with good people, bad people, and in-between people. The number of each type determines how you should position your nation, people and society in relation to those people. Mr. Abbas might now and then say something useful to the Jewish cause, but the reaction to his statement only exposes the absurdity of supposed peaceful and reasonable relations between Israelis Jews, and Israelis arab muslims. We are not in A reasonable living arrangement, we are living in A poisoned environment. May our people be equipped with the observations to see the threats we face. In G-d I trust.
gravenimage says
Thanks for that background, Oren.
abu taleb says
I don’t trust any muslim who knows Islamic teaching, how can I trust them if they are told to kill or enslave me by their religion?