Ra’am’s Abbas accuses Netanyahu of ‘trying to steal the elections’ by hinting at ban of his party

Mansour Abbas, chair of the Islamist Ra’am party, reportedly accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “trying to steal” next year’s election by floating a ban of the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement with which Ra’am is affiliated.

“This approach of Netanyahu’s has a very clear goal: to try to steal the elections and try to fix their results in advance, because he knows that Ra’am is a party that will bring change, and will bring the numbers to replace the government of Netanyahu and [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir,” Abbas says, according to the Ynet outlet.

Abbas said today that his party is “evaluating the legal situation” after Netanyahu appeared to threaten to outlaw it on the grounds that it is connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Islamist party is the political wing of the Southern Islamic Movement, a group inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood, a global Islamist organization that has been outlawed in around a dozen countries for alleged links to terrorism.

Abbas has repeatedly denied that his party is connected to the Brotherhood.

Ra’am, which joined the coalition that unseated Netanyahu in 2021, takes a conciliatory stance toward Israel and is focused more on socioeconomic issues than its parent movement’s more radical sister branch, the Northern Islamic Movement, which is already outlawed.

Ra’am holds five seats in the Knesset, and polls indicate it will retain that number in the next elections.

A source close to Netanyahu says the ban is not connected to Ra’am, according to Ynet.

“We’re not against one party or another,” the unnamed source reportedly says. “To the extent that Ra’am departs from the law, the party will be disqualified from running regardless of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Abbas accuses Netanyahu of “aiming to taint the legitimacy of Ra’am, a legitimate and democratic party.”