Ra'am leader indicates still no decision on who to back as PM

Two days after giving a primetime speech calling for Arab-Jewish political cooperation, Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas indicated his Islamist party has not yet decided who, if anyone, to back as prime minister.

Asked directly about the matter by Channel 12 news, Abbas says, “we are awaiting developments in the coming days” on the readiness of the political establishment to accept a meaningful role for Arabs.

Abbas says the main aim of his speech was “to tackle the practice by which Arabs are excluded from the political process… Our demand is for active political involvement.”

“Naturally, there was some criticism of my speech [from within Ra’am]… legitimate criticism… no speech is perfect,” he adds.