Raam Party Chairman, MK Mansour Abbas, granted an interview to CNN in which he got in hot water with the Arab world. While trying to clarify his statement, he succeeded in angering the Israeli political world.
In the interview, Abbas said that all Palestinian organizations need to lay down their arms and unite for an unarmed political struggle for the sake of a Palestinian state, alongside the State of Israel – as a political solution.
Abbas’ statement led to a great deal of anger in the Arab world, forcing him to clarify his statement. A statement issued by the Raam party said that “MK Mansour Abbas’ intention in his interview for CNN is that the Palestinian state that is established will deny the arming of Palestinian factions as part of the implementation of its governance.”
This clarification led many in the Israeli political world to turn on him, as this implies the Palestinian factions must continue to fight Israel until there is such a Palestinian state to secure a monopoly of force.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that “Mansour Abbas once again reveals his true face in recanting his statement that they should lay down their arms and proves what we always said: Abbas and the Muslim Brotherhood party are clear terror supporters. The preconception has collapsed and the conclusion is clear: zero tolerance for terror supporters in the Israeli Knesset. A state that wishes to live needs to remove the Raam party from the Knesset and outside the law.”
Minister Israel Katz: “Mansour Abbas thinks we’ll buy his grandma in the red cape disguise. The Muslim Brothers are a sister movement of Hamas in Gaza. Abass thinks we are stupid and that he will buy us off with empty smooth talk. In the morning he spoke of dismantling the organizations’ weapons and in the evening he explained that this is really after a Palestinian state is established. We don’t buy the bluff.”
