In a move that signifies the changing Arab and Palestinian attitude towards Israel, the leader of the Israeli Arab-Islamist party acknowledged that the country was created as a Jewish State and will remain so in the future.
“Israel was born a Jewish state, that was the decision of the people, and the question is not what is the identity of the state — it was born this way and it will remain this way,” Mansour Abbas, who heads the Ra’am-United Arab List, said on Tuesday.
The statement is significant given Abbas’ position as the head of Ra’am, a party that traces its origins to the radical Islamic Muslim Brotherhood movement. Historically, the Arab leaders have rejected the Jewish character of Israel, calling for the Palestinian ‘right of return’ — a demand that ignores the displacement of Jewish communities in the Arab lands and aims to reduce the Jews to a minority in their own country.
This year, Abbas made history when he led his Arab-Islamist party into the governing coalition that ended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12 years reign.
The Israeli TV channel i24News reported the prominent Arab leader’s remarks:
Prominent Israeli Arab politician Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamist Ra’am party, on Tuesday broke with the traditional stances of Israel’s Arab parties by declaring that Israel will always be a Jewish state.
“Israel was born a Jewish state, that was the decision of the people, and the question is not what is the identity of the state — it was born this way and it will remain this way,” Abbas said in an interview with Channel 12 News commentator Mohammad Magadli.
“The question is what is the status of the Arab citizen in the Jewish State of Israel. That is the question. And this challenge does not just stand in front of Mansour Abbas, but in front of the Jewish community and the Jewish citizen,” the MK continued.
Arab parties in the past have promoted the view that Israel should be a state for all citizens, including advocating for changing the Law of Return that allows Jews in the diaspora to move to Israel and acquire citizenship.
The statement by the leading Israeli-Arab politician shows the shifting attitude toward the Jewish State among the Arab governments and the public. With Shia-Islamist Iran racing towards a nuclear bomb, Arab countries are deepening security and technological ties with Israel.
The rapprochement, which began last year with the signing of the Arab Accords, a framework brokered by President Donald Trump, has flourished despite little support from the Biden administration. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Naftali became the first Israeli leader to visit the United Arab Emirates amid growing trade and diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Many Arab governments see Israel as the only reliable bulwark against a potentially nuclear-armed Iran, extending its control across the Middle East through proxy militias from Lebanon to Yemen.
Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has shown the military capability and the political will to prevent Iran from going nuclear. In 2007, an Israeli airstrike destroyed the Syrian nuclear facility at Al-Kibar, effectively stopping the pro-Iranian Assad regime from acquiring its nukes. Several attacks on Iranian nuclear weapons sites have been attributed to Israel in recent years.
With President Biden’s diplomatic ‘engagement’ with Iran bordering on appeasement, the Israeli government is looking at plans to strike facilities linked to the regime’s nuclear weapons program.
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