Arab Leaders Refuse To Call Hamas A Terrorist Organization

Arab leaders in the Knesset caused outrage Thursday after ducking direct questions and refusing to label Hamas a terrorist organization, even as they try to play kingmaker in Israel’s next coalition government.

The political drama unfolded during post-election consultations hosted by Israeli President Isaac Herzog at his official residence, where party chiefs gathered to recommend who should form a ruling majority following the 26th Knesset vote.

When Herzog asked Ra’am chief Mansour Abbas whether his faction views Hamas as a terror group, Abbas sidestepped the question. Instead of calling out the Gaza butchers, he protested being grilled at all, calling the question an insulting “test of loyalty.” Ra’am previously joined the Bennett-Lapid coalition in 2021 before that government imploded the following year.

The evasion didn’t stop there. When Herzog pressed representatives from the Arab Joint List on whether they would stop supporting the Israeli government if it went to war with Hamas or Iran, Joint List chairman Yousef Jabareen flatly refused to commit to standing by the state. Jabareen claimed his faction would make a purely “strategic decision” to promote its own interests. He then blasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, accusing them of inciting division  between Israelis and Arabs.

Meanwhile, both Arab factions formally endorsed Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot of the “Change Bloc” to lead the nation’s next administration.

There has been significant  public backlash. A new Kantar Institute survey revealed that an overwhelming majority of the Jewish public strongly rejects any “Change Bloc” administration that relies on the backing of Ra’am alongside the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism faction.

Voter opposition to a deal with the Arab-Islamist party isn’t just coming from the right wing, which is staunchly opposed to such a deal. More than half of self-described Change Bloc voters themselves oppose cutting a deal with Ra’am to seize power, while centrists and left-leaning voters remain deeply skeptical.

With Herzog set to wrap up talks with remaining factions, the refusal of key Arab lawmakers to take a firm stand against Israel’s deadliest adversaries is pulling back the veil on Eisenkot’s path to power.