Mansour Abbas (Arabic: منصور عباس; Hebrew: מנסור עבאס; born April 22, 1974) is an Israeli Arab politician, dentist, and chairman of Ra’am (United Arab List). In 2021, he became the first leader of an independent Arab party to join an Israeli governing coalition.
Abbas was born in the northern Israeli town of Maghar to a traditional Muslim farming family. One of 11 children, he studied dentistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and chaired its Arab Students Committee. He later studied political science at the University of Haifa and practiced dentistry. During his student years, Abbas met Sheik Abdullah Nimr Darwish, founder of the Southern Branch of Israel’s Islamic Movement, which favored nonviolence and participation in Israeli elections. Abbas became Ra’am’s secretary-general in 2007, deputy chairman of the Southern Branch in 2010, and party chairman before the 2019 election.
Abbas entered the Knesset in April 2019 at the head of the Ra’am-Balad alliance and was reelected in September 2019 and March 2020 as part of the Joint List. He distinguished himself from other Arab-party leaders by emphasizing violent crime, housing, planning, infrastructure, and public funding in Arab communities. In November 2020, he said Ra’am was “neither right nor left” and “not in anyone’s pocket,” arguing that Arab representatives should negotiate with whichever government could deliver practical gains. The approach contributed to Ra’am’s split from the Joint List before the March 2021 election, when it won four seats and became pivotal to forming a government.
Abbas negotiated with both Benjamin Netanyahu and Netanyahu’s opponents. In June 2021, Ra’am joined the coalition led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, becoming the first independent Arab party to serve as a formal coalition partner. It took no ministerial portfolio but secured commitments for multiyear development, infrastructure, Bedouin planning, and anti-crime programs. In December 2021, Abbas said Israel “was born as a Jewish state” and “will remain” one, while arguing that the central question was the status and rights of Arab citizens. Palestinian organizations and several Arab politicians condemned the statement. He continued to support a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Ra’am won five seats in the 2022 election.
After the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, Abbas condemned violence against civilians as inhuman, unjustifiable, and contrary to Islamic values. In December, he urged armed Palestinian factions to relinquish their weapons and pursue statehood through the Palestinian Authority. However, Ra’am later clarified that disarmament should accompany the establishment of a Palestinian state.
In July 2026, Abbas declined during a radio interview to say directly that Hamas was a terrorist organization that should be eliminated, while reiterating that he and Ra’am had condemned the October 7 crimes. He said repeated “loyalty tests” impaired his ability to promote reconciliation; the refusal prompted renewed criticism.
In 2026, Ra’am separated organizationally from the Islamic Movement’s Shura Council and broadened its civic platform. At an August party convention, Abbas called a Palestinian state an existing “reality” and urged Israeli recognition, drawing rebukes from both government and opposition figures. Days later, he wrote that Israel’s Jewish character was a reality “imposed” on Arab citizens and accepted in practice because otherwise Arab lists could be disqualified. He also reaffirmed the Palestinian narrative of the Nakba and support for Palestinian statehood. Critics contrasted those remarks with his 2021 formulation. Abbas maintained that pragmatic participation did not require abandoning Palestinian national positions. On August 31, he announced that former Jewish Zionist lawmaker and police official Yoav Segalovitz would run second on Ra’am’s slate in a technical alliance focused mainly on combating crime.
Sources: “Mansour Abbas,” Knesset.
Moran Azulay and Alexandra Lukash, “Abbas: ‘I Haven’t Given Up on the Joint List; I’m Not in Anyone’s Pocket,’” Ynet, (November 25, 2020). [Hebrew]
Orly Halpern, “Mansour Abbas on Why He Joined Israel’s New Coalition,” TIME, (June 11, 2021).
Ruth Margalit, “The Arab-Israeli Power Broker in the Knesset,” The New Yorker, (October 25, 2021).
Gad Peretz, “Mansour Abbas: ‘The State of Israel Is a Jewish State and That Is How It Will Remain,’” Globes, (December 21, 2021).
Khaled Abu Toameh, “Palestinians Slam Mansour Abbas for ‘Recognizing’ Israel as a Jewish State,” Jerusalem Post, (December 22, 2021).
“Ra’am’s Abbas Urges Armed Palestinian Factions to Disarm, Before Softening Statement,” Times of Israel, (December 2, 2023).
David Isaac, “Ra’am Party Chief Refuses to Condemn Hamas as Terror Group,” JNS, (July 29, 2026).
Sam Sokol, “Ra’am’s Abbas Says Palestinian State ‘a Reality,’ Drawing Outrage from Zionist Parties,” Times of Israel, (August 22, 2026).
Sam Sokol, “Abbas Eyes Segalovitz Pact amid Backlash for Saying He’s ‘Compelled’ to Accept Jewish State,” Times of Israel, (August 26, 2026).
Sam Sokol, “In Unprecedented Move, Abbas and Segalovitz Announce Joint Run, Bringing Jewish Lawmaker to Arab Party’s Slate,” Times of Israel, (August 31, 2026).
Photo: U.S. Embassy Jerusalem, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.