Otzma Yehudit petitions to disqualify Ra’am from election over alleged terror ties: ‘Wolf in sheep’s clothing’

By Stav Levaton

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9 September 2026, 1:37 pm

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Stav Levaton is a military reporter for The Times of Israel

Left: Ra'am party head MK Mansour Abbas leads a faction meeting, at the Knesset on May 11, 2026; right: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads an Otzma Yehudit faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 15, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

The far-right Otzma Yehudit party files a request with the Central Elections Committee to disqualify the Islamist Ra’am party and its leader, Mansour Abbas, from running in the upcoming election, alleging that the party “rejects Israel’s existence as a Jewish state” and supports an “armed struggle” against it.

Last night was the deadline for parties to submit their candidate slates to the Central Elections Committee ahead of the October 27 election.

Among the evidence cited in the 39-page request is a Registrar of Associations report on “Aid 48,” a nonprofit affiliated with Ra’am, which the petition says “details transfers of funds and cooperation” between the nonprofit and “terrorist organizations.” Otzma Yehudit alleges that Aid 48 and another Ra’am-linked nonprofit, “Humanitarian Deeds,” transferred millions of shekels to terror groups.

The petition further alleges that Ra’am has an “ideological connection to the Muslim Brotherhood” and claims that Abbas himself is a member of the Islamist organization. Abbas has denied being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

It also points to past statements by Abbas as evidence of what it calls a “method of speaking in two voices,” accusing him of adopting a moderate tone for Israeli audiences in order to avoid disqualification while conveying a different message to Arab audiences.

“The wolf in sheep’s clothing must be thrown out of the Knesset,” says Otzma Yehudit leader and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, himself a frequent past target for potential disqualification. “It is time to enforce the law and disqualify the terrorist organization called Ra’am and the man who heads it, Muslim Brotherhood member Mansour Abbas.”

The allegations concerning Aid 48 follow a Justice Ministry letter published last year stating that it had found grounds to seek the nonprofit’s dissolution after an investigation concluded that it had transferred funds to organizations proscribed over alleged terror ties.