Israel needs Mansour Abbas in the government
Israel’s next prime minister, whether Netanyahu or Eisenkot, will have to confront the diplomatic catastrophe in which the country finds itself. Unfortunately, the political debate during the election campaign barely addressed this critical issue. Israelis tend to ignore or suppress the reality of Israel’s rapid transformation into an increasingly isolated pariah state. There is a real risk of expanded European sanctions against Israel, which could quickly spread to the United States in the wake of the blue wave that swept the midterm elections, and even more so after the 2028 presidential election.
The prolonged war in Gaza, the irresponsible and immoral statements made by government ministers that continue to be widely quoted around the world, and the outgoing government’s persistent failure to address Jewish terrorism in the West Bank have brought Israel’s international standing to an unprecedented low. This poses an existential threat to Israel’s security, its economy, and, in the longer term, potentially even its very existence. Few Israelis would volunteer to live in the “Super Sparta” Netanyahu described in a speech last year. In any case, a Sparta that lives by the sword alone, without international alliances or diplomatic relations, may wake up one morning to discover that it no longer has the swords it needs to fight.
Given the grim situation and the results of Israel’s elections, the smartest move Netanyahu and Eisenkot could make would be to invite Mansour Abbas to join the coalition. Yes, even if a unity government were formed that did not need Ra’am’s seats to reach the required 61. Bringing a pragmatic Arab party into the next coalition would signal a fresh start to the world, potentially earning the incoming government some initial diplomatic goodwill and helping ward off sanctions.
Why Ra’am specifically? Because unlike the Joint List, Ra’am, under Mansour Abbas’s leadership, made a conscious decision to put the Israeli-Palestinian political conflict on the back burner and focus instead on improving the civil rights, economic prospects, and personal security of Arab citizens of Israel. Abbas proved himself a loyal coalition partner in the Bennett-Lapid government, even during military operations and security escalations, including Operation Break the Wave in the West Bank and Operation Breaking Dawn in Gaza. His outreach during the recent election campaign went even further, with his decision to separate the party’s institutions from the Islamic Movement and to add Jewish centrist politician Yoav Segalovitz to its electoral list. Assuming Abbas agrees to the four conditions Eisenkot set for any party to join the coalition, including recognizing Hamas as a terrorist organization, there is no reason not to try to include his party.
The Netanyahu brand has become utterly toxic in many world capitals, and among even large segments of the public in Europe and the United States. Even a moderate unity government that includes Eisenkot’s bloc would be difficult for them to swallow as long as Netanyahu remains at its head, even if only for part of its term. The deep distrust of him is understandable. Bringing Ra’am into a unity government could make that bitter pill easier for world leaders to swallow, signal a shift from extremism and racism toward moderation, and mark a genuine breakthrough in Jewish-Arab relations in Israel. Such a move could succeed only if the next government demonstrates a new spirit of moderation, makes a serious effort to tackle Jewish terrorism at its roots, and embraces diplomatic pragmatism, rather than using Ra’am as a tool for rebranding or whitewashing.
A naive and unrealistic scenario, given Netanyahu’s toxic incitement against Arab citizens and Abbas? Perhaps. But Netanyahu’s shifting attitude toward Arab citizens tells us that his approach is entirely instrumental. After warning in 2015 that Arab voters were heading to the polls in droves, he tried ahead of the 2021 election to persuade Bennett and Smotrich to support forming a government with Abbas. He even explained in a television interview how much he wanted an Arab minister in his government rather than Ben Gvir. In that same interview, he addressed Arab Israelis directly and said: “You should join the government. For once, be on the inside!”
Yes, those were his exact words.
Netanyahu is right. Let them in.