Ra’am (United Arab List) chairman Mansour Abbas published a revealing post in Arabic on Wednesday morning detailing his fundamental positions regarding the State of Israel. In the post, Abbas disclosed that the sole reason he ever recognized Israel as a Jewish state was because it was “forced” upon him as a legal prerequisite to run for parliament. “We were forced to accept this so that we would not be disqualified from running for the Knesset,” he stated explicitly.
Addressing his past controversial remarks—including previous claims that “Zionist gangs conquered Palestine”—Abbas stressed that the shift in tone and phrasing across his recent Hebrew media appearances does not represent any renunciation of his national identity. Rebuffing criticism in the Israeli media, Abbas wrote: “The claim that I deny the Nakba, the displacement, or the Palestinian narrative is just another fabrication.”
“When right-wing figures confront me with statements from my past that actually prove the authenticity of my belonging, my identity, and my narrative, and I say that today—especially since we introduced the approach of partnership and influence in recent years—I phrase my remarks, ideas, and political approach differently, it does not mean in any way that I deny the Nakba, the displacement, or the Palestinian narrative,” Abbas clarified.
According to Abbas, the “partnership and influence” strategy he championed is merely a tactical repackaging designed to leverage the Israeli political apparatus for national goals. He explained that participating in coalition politics is aimed at expressing the “truth of the Nakba” from a position of power: “Is it not possible that a different phrasing and political approach can actually express the truth of the Nakba, learn from historical experience accurately and smartly, and present a practical vision for the future? Does this not offer the ability to gain influence to address the injustices and wounds inherited from our ongoing Nakba, prevent new displacement in all its forms, and emerge from the historical narrative to write the future narrative we yearn for?”
These admissions follow Channel 14’s recent investigative series The Spotted Jihad, alongside Abbas’s demands during Ra’am’s national conference in Tayibe for Israel and the United States to recognize a “Palestinian state” and end the “occupation.” Abbas reiterated his goal of returning to a ruling Israeli coalition, asserting: “The State of Palestine exists, and most of the world recognizes it except the United States and Israel. We want them to recognize it as well, and we work toward peace, reconciliation, and ending the occupation and conflict.” For Abbas, political partnership within the Israeli establishment remains an operational instrument to achieve those exact ideological ends.