Mansour Abbas
A dentist and imam turned political leader, Mansour Abbas heads Ra'am, the first Arab party to have joined an Israeli governing coalition (2021), and relies on political participation rather than opposition to improve living conditions in Israeli Arab society. The Supreme Court unanimously overturned the party's disqualification on October 2, 2026, and Ra'am is confirmed as eligible to run in the October 27, 2026 election.
- Ideology
- Conservative Israeli Arab Islamism, participationist
- Current role
- Chairman of Ra'am (United Arab List), member of the Knesset
- Born
- April 22, 1974Maghar
Key takeaways
- 01
Chairman of Ra'am (United Arab List) since 2018, the first Arab party to have joined an Israeli governing coalition (2021).
- 02
Secured a development plan worth 9.4 billion shekels for Arab localities in October 2021.
- 03
Placed former police commissioner Yoav Segalovitz (Jewish) in 2nd position on his list for 2026.
- 04
Publicly affirms the existence of the State of Palestine while saying that he recognizes the Jewish character of the State of Israel.
- 05
Considers the independence of the judicial system to be the “main protection” of the Israeli Arab minority.
- 06
Is running independently in the October 27, 2026 elections, after declining to join the reconstituted Unified List (Hadash-Ta'al-Balad), with which Ra'am signed a surplus-vote sharing agreement.
Controversies
On September 23, 2026, the Central Elections Committee voted to disqualify Ra'am on the basis of allegations of support for armed struggle, judged to be “very thin” by the Israeli attorney general. The Supreme Court unanimously overturned this decision on October 2, 2026, confirming the party's participation in the election.
His position on LGBT rights remains the one expressed in December 2020, when he invoked Islamic law to oppose them. It has not been publicly reaffirmed since.
His proposal for voluntary civic service for Israeli Arab youth, entirely separate from military service, elicits mixed reactions.
Born on April 22, 1974, in Maghar (Galilee), Mansour Abbas is a dental surgeon by training (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and also serves as an imam near Tiberias.
He became chairman of Ra'am in 2018, the political wing of the Islamic Movement (southern branch). The movement's Shura Council retains significant influence over the party's major political directions. The party relies particularly on the Bedouin electorate in the Negev, while also enjoying support in traditional and religious localities in the north of the country and the Triangle.
In January 2021, he withdrew Ra'am from the Joint List to run independently. The party won 4 seats in March 2021. On June 2, 2021, Ra'am signed the Bennett-Lapid coalition agreement, marking the historic first entry of an independent Arab party into an Israeli government, which led, among other things, to a development plan worth 9.4 billion shekels for Arab localities (October 2021).
Following the October 7, 2023 attacks, which he described as “inhumane,” Abbas called on Palestinian armed groups, in an interview with CNN on November 30, 2023, to “lay down their arms” and work with the Palestinian Authority toward a “national movement aspiring to a State of Palestine through a peaceful solution.” In response to criticism from right-wing Israeli officials, Ra'am published a clarification on December 2, 2023, specifying that it was the future Palestinian state, once established, that would dismantle the factions' armaments, rather than immediate and unilateral disarmament.
On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Abbas stated in August 2026 that a Palestinian state “already exists and most countries in the world recognize it, with the exception of the United States and Israel,” while saying that he recognizes the Jewish character of the State of Israel. He refuses to align himself exclusively with either a left-wing or a right-wing bloc and has placed former police commissioner Yoav Segalovitz (Jewish) in 2nd position on his list for 2026, with the aim of broadening the party's acceptability as a prospective coalition partner.
On the judicial system, he stated on March 16, 2023, that judicial independence had been the “main protection” of Arab society. On conscription, he supports a model of voluntary civic service entirely separate from any military or security apparatus, managed internally by the Arab community.
On September 23, 2026, the Central Elections Committee voted, by 18 votes to 5, to disqualify Ra'am from the October 27, 2026 election, on the basis of allegations of support for armed struggle. The Israeli attorney general opposed this, judging the petition to be “very thin.”
On October 2, 2026, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned this decision (9 votes to 0), confirming that Ra'am and the Unified List could run in the election.
<strong>Ra'am's disqualification and its reversal (September–October 2026)</strong>
On September 23, 2026, the Knesset's Central Elections Committee voted 18 to 5 to disqualify Ra'am from the October 27, 2026 election. The decision was based on allegations that the party had supported armed struggle against Israel. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara publicly opposed the decision, saying the evidence was insufficient. The case went to the Supreme Court. The court reviewed it together with the cases of the Joint List (Hadash-Ta'al-Balad) and of MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash), who also faced disqualification. On October 2, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously (9-0) to keep Ra'am and the Joint List in the race. It found that the evidence did not meet the strict standard required to disqualify a party. The same day, in a separate 7-2 ruling, it rejected the request to disqualify Ofer Cassif.
<strong>Position on LGBT rights</strong>
In December 2020, Abbas cited Islamic law to justify his opposition to LGBT rights. During the 2021 coalition talks with Yair Lapid, he said his party would oppose any pro-LGBT law: "Without a doubt. We are a party with religious roots." Ra'am MK Walid Taha said at the time that the party would not accept values foreign to its community being imposed on it.
Abbas supports a voluntary civic service for Arab Israeli youth. It would be fully separate from the military and security services and run by the Arab community itself. He prefers this to a mandatory universal service that includes military conscription. Reactions to the proposal are mixed: some see it as a step toward civic integration, others as a way to avoid full civic duties.
Ra'am, Mansour Abbas's party, has the official English name "United Arab List." This sounds very close to the "Joint List," so the two are often confused. In fact, they are two completely separate parties, with different leaders, ideologies and election strategies.
The Joint List is an electoral alliance created in 2015, after the electoral threshold was raised from 2% to 3.25%. It originally brought together Hadash, Ta'al, Balad and Ra'am. In January 2021, Ra'am left the alliance to run on its own. It believed it could win more concrete gains for Arab society by staying independent. For the October 27, 2026 election, Hadash, Ta'al and Balad re-formed the Joint List on August 19, 2026. It is led by Yousef Jabareen (Hadash), with Ahmad Tibi (Ta'al) and Sami Abu Shehadeh (Balad). Abu Shehadeh withdrew his candidacy on October 2, 2026. Ra'am stayed out of this alliance and is running alone. On September 11, 2026, it signed a surplus-vote agreement with the Joint List.
In terms of ideas, Ra'am comes from the southern branch of the Islamic Movement. It takes a pragmatic approach: it focuses on getting budgets and concrete programs for Arab society, even if that means working with right-wing or left-wing coalitions. The Joint List, by contrast, brings together three different streams: Hadash (communist roots, Arab-Jewish), Ta'al (secular, focused on civil rights) and Balad (strong Palestinian nationalism; it wants Israel to become a "state of all its citizens"). It is therefore less a single party than an electoral alliance of three parties with different ideologies.