Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday made an appearance at a hearing of the Special Committee on Eradicating Crime in Arab Society, chaired by MK Mansour Abbas (Joint Arab List), and the warmth between the two men who come from opposite ends of the political map in Israel struck a note of alert in Israel’s left.
Or, as Ha’aretz put in succinctly in its headline: “The champion of divisiveness did it again: if he had to, he would appoint Mansour Abbas as Defense Minister.”
At the committee hearing, Netanyahu declared, Joe Biden-style: “I am the Prime Minister of all the citizens of Israel. Israeli Arabs are citizens of the state and deserve the basic services like other citizens of the state. We still have much work before us even though my governments have brought budgets to the Arab sector more than any other government.”
So, a little touch of President Donald Trump, too, who has pointed often to the rise in Black prosperity during his administration.
Netanyahu added: “The first component is personal security – defeating crime, defeating the rule of fear and defeating protection. I want to do this in a comprehensive manner. We will also need legislation on the issue and we will need the help of all of you on this matter.”
He stated: “I believe that with united forces we will be able to achieve wonderful things here.”
To which Committee Chairman Abbas responded, “Let’s place the good intentions on a timescale which will allow for their implementation…and realize all of the potentials in this plan.”
This show of cooperation for the common good was followed by a report by News 12 reporter Dafna Lial who said that it was another phase in the rapprochement between Netanyahu and Mansour Abbas that could dramatically alter the political map.
“The rapprochement between Netanyahu and Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas is a fascinating political event,” Lial said. “We have here a party from the Arab sector that’s worth 4 votes and is willing to negotiate on almost any issue as long as it yields achievements to the public that it represents. In the days of a draw between the blocs, this is a dramatic factor.”
Ra’am (Hebrew acronym for United Arab List) was created in 1996 by Arab politicians affiliated with the southern branch of the Islamic movement – commonly viewed as less extreme than the northern branch. Abbas, 46, a dentist, began his career as head of the Arab students’ union at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, became the Ra’am secretary-general in 2007, and rose to party chairmanship in 2018. He is considered a moderate and has been actively pursuing the inclusion of women in the party’s Knesset delegation. In April 2020, MK Abbas delivered a speech in the Knesset on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day and expressed solidarity with the Jewish people who were victims of Nazi racism.
Ra’am holds 4 out of the Joint Arab List’s 15 Knesset seats. The List is comprised of 4 parties with little in common other than being mostly Arab.
Ravit Hecht reported in Ha’aretz Monday night: “Netanyahu is arch-divider. Now he is using his talent on the Joint List. He has a new buddy, Mansour Abbas, chairman of the Islamic Movement, yes, that one, who helped revoke the results of the vote on the establishment of a committee of inquiry into the submarines affair. Abbas and Netanyahu are such good friends that the prime minister came to honor him in the deliberations of a committee that discussed crime in Arab society.”
You’re not wrong, this is some racist trope Ha’aretz is generating. Because, you see, unlike other parliamentarians the world over, Israeli Arab MKs are not allowed to seek cooperation with the powers that be for the benefit of their voters. They must stick to the struggle against the Zionist occupation of Palestine or else be marked as collaborators with the enemies of Ha’aretz.
Hecht quoted MK Aida Touma-Suleiman, from the Communist faction in the Joint Arab List (yes, it boggles the mind to try and discover a common denominator between devoted Muslims and communists, other than they’re Arab), who told her: “I almost had a heart attack at the meeting.”
The alliance between the chairman of the Islamic Movement, which, contrary to its public image, is the most pragmatic faction of the Joint Arab List, is simply rattling the coalition of Arab parties, according to Hecht.
And Touma-Suleiman reiterated: “We know this government. We know the Likud. We know Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s policy will only hurt everyone who goes near him.”
The submarine vote served as an excellent opportunity for Mansour Abbas to befriend the prime minister. A plenum session over which he presided as Deputy Speaker pushed through and won a vote that called to launch an investigating committee to look into the corruption allegations against Netanyahu regarding the purchase of German submarines. Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) rushed to the podium to declare the vote null and void on procedural grounds, and Abbas sided with his call.
It should be noted that Ra’am is the most popular party with Bedouin voters, who give her around 43% of their votes – which constitute about 16% of the overall votes for the Joint Arab List. The Bedouin are extremely practical voters and have been known to pool their votes as clans and often supported whichever party happened to hold the Interior Ministry, where the municipal budgets are allocated – including when the ministry was run by religious Zionist parties.