Hamas cannot interfere in Arab-Israeli affairs, Mansour Abbas says - report

Ra'am party leader MK Mansour Abbas accused the Hamas terrorist organization of "dragging Palestinian-Arab citizens into acts of violence" in an interview with i24NEWS' Arabic channel on Thursday.

Abbas described during the interview that the terror organization's influence on Israel's Arab community is a "great catastrophe" and that it "brings a new calamity."

The Ra'am leader also told i24NEWS that the Israeli-Arab society must be fortified from going in such a direction, as it would "serve extremism and extremists, and it strikes our position as Arab citizens here, holders of rights, and as children of the Palestinian people.”

Abbas then asked Palestinian leaders to not interfere in the affairs of Palestinian Arabs who also happen to be Israeli citizens. He also reaffirmed his party's position of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and that to do so "requires all of us to neutralize violence in all forms and engage in the peace process.”

Mansour Abbas and Ra'am

In October of last year, Abbas stated that he has ruled out the option of joining a future coalition with opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, stating that he was responsible for the dramatic increase in violent crime within Arab society during an interview with Channel 12.

This contradicts what the Ra'am leader said in July a few months before the Channel 12 interview, where he said that his party would not rule out anyone else in the next coalition - including Likud.

Abbas made this statement at a Shabbatarbut event in Ramat Hasharon.

Shira Silkoff and Eliav Breuer contributed to this report.