Officials close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in advanced stages of disqualifying the United Arab List (Ra’am) and its chair, Mansour Abbas, from running in the next elections, according to a report from Channel 13.
The initiative stems from a legal battle to designate the Southern Faction of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Ra’am’s parent movement, as a terrorist organization. The prosecution stems primarily from unproven allegations that the Southern Faction sent funds to Gaza, potentially supporting Hamas.
According to the Channel 13 report, officials close to Netanyahu were advancing both political and legal efforts to designate the Southern Faction as a terrorist group, a move that by extension would disqualify Ra’am from running in elections.
The Chairman of Ra’am, Mansour Abbas, addressed the report, stating: “Netanyahu aims to decide the upcoming elections by disqualifying Ra’am in an anti-democratic manner. It is the duty of the Shin Bet to act with statesmanlike professionalism and legality, safeguard the democratic order and its institutions, and refuse to serve as a tool of the political echelon during an election period. Our response to this anti-democratic move will be at the ballot box.”
The Prime Minister’s office has not issued any comments regarding the report.
Ra’am’s links to the Southern Faction
The Southern Faction is the southern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, which split from the movement’s northern branch in the 1990s over whether Arab Islamists should participate in Israeli politics and institutions.
The southern branch chose participation in Israeli elections and established Ra’am in 1996, while the northern branch, led by Sheik Raed Salah, rejected participation in the Knesset and later became increasingly associated by Israeli authorities with incitement and support for Hamas-linked activism, according to the European Council on Foreign Affairs.
Israel outlawed the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in 2015, citing alleged ties to Hamas and accusations of incitement surrounding tensions at the Temple Mount.
The Southern Faction, however, remained legal and continued operating through Ra’am, whose platform is focused on increased civic integration of Arabs into Israeli society, crime, and funding for Arab municipalities.
