Weekly Commentary: Should Possible Ultimate Goals of Mansour Abbas Drive Collaboration With Him Today?

Weekly Commentary: Should Possible Ultimate Goals of Mansour Abbas Drive
Collaboration With Him Today?
Dr. Aaron Lerner 2 January 2022

“Abbas is Moslem Brotherhood.”

That is the argument against the participation of Mansour Abbas in the
coalition government.

And that argument remains relevant even if Binyamin Netanyahu met repeatedly
with Abbas at the Prime Minister’s Residence on Balfour Street to discuss
forming a government which accounted for him.

Let’s go the the worse case scenario that Mansour Abbas is saying the right
things today both in Hebrew AND Arabic (Israel is a Jewish State, etc.) but
that his long game is for Israel to become part of some Islamic entity
covering the entire Middle East and those parts of Europe which were
occupied at some time in history by Islamic forces.

First let’s consider what the ruling coalition might be able to achieve in
collaboration with Mansour Abbas:

#1. End a dangerous reign of violent lawlessness in Israeli Arab society:
– Crime, protection payments, etc. which cost our entire society dearly.
– Huge quantity of illegal weapons which have flooded Israeli Arab
communities and present a threat to national security.

#2. Resolve the ever growing spread of illegal Arab construction in the
Negev and elsewhere.

#3. Increase the participation of Israeli Arabs in the economy not only in
terms of labor force participation rates but also their productivity.

Can these goals be reached without the participation of an Arab party in the
coalition?

We only know that these problems haven’t been successfully addressed by the
governments which did not include an Arab party. And we have seen, time and
again, that while Arab politicians in the past have indeed called for
security operations to end the lawlessness, they effectively withdrew their
support when forces entered Arab communities to get the job done. Abbas
doesn’t.

And what could Mansour Abbas do if all these things happened and he became
tremendous political powerhouse with 15 seats in the Knesset?

Could he have the Knesset vote to void the Law of Return so that Jews from
overseas no longer enjoy a fast track to citizenship? No.

Could he have the Knesset vote to adopt Sharia law? Again no.

Could he whip up the Israeli Arabs to take up arms against the Jewish State
as Arab armies invade the country? Albeit far fetched, but this outcome is
weighed against the Israeli Arabs being led by people who, a priori, are
more radical, in a scenario according to which the odds are good that the
Israeli Arabs are armed to the teeth with illegal weapons we never succeeded
in collecting.

This coalition government has served as a remarkable example of how people
with extremely diverse agendas can work together for common goals.

We are also witness to the very promising situation that we find the public
frequently reacting to the particular policy that a minister embraces rather
than the minister’s political identity.

The potential gains for the Jewish State via the participation of Mansour
Abbas in the coalition government swamps the potential future risks.

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IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis

Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on
Arab-Israeli relations

Website: www.imra.org.il