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Mansour Abbas

A sample voting booth is displayed at the Central Elections Committee warehouse in Shoham, ahead of the upcoming election, October 14, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
2026 Knesset election
Ariela Karmel, Stav Levaton, Tal Schneider, Noam Lehmann and ToI Staff
Everything you need to know: ToI’s guide to the 37 parties that Israelis can choose from
After four years of government stability despite protests, upheaval, tragedy and war, voters will once again have their say at the ballot box. From frontrunners Yashar and Likud to the one-man Shema and the perennial also-ran Pirates, these are the factions vying for the Knesset's 120 seats on October 27
Election campaign billboards featuring Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot, right, and Likud party chairman Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alongside opposition leaders are displayed along a roadside in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, ahead of Israel’s upcoming general elections, October 17, 2026. (Sharon Leibel/Flash90)
Netanyahu and Eisenkot in dead heat five days before election, final ToI poll shows
By Tal Schneider, Ariela Karmel, Emanuel Fabian, Lazar Berman and ToI Staff
An electoral billboard for Ra'am, with its leader Mansour Abbas and candidate Waleed Taha, is displayed in the predominantly Arab city of Kafr Qasim in central Israel on October 19, 2026. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP)
October 21, 2026, 5:58 pm
Turnout among Israel’s Arab voters could make or break hopes to unseat Netanyahu
Pollsters expect 63% Arab turnout, up 7% from 2022; with opposition bloc largely against Arab parties joining coalition, community leaders hope they can still wield influence
By Reuters and ToI Staff
Yisrael Beiteinu party chairman Avigdor Lieberman speaks during a conference organized by the Israel Democracy Institute in Tel Aviv, October 15, 2026. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
October 16, 2026, 7:00 pm
Liberman is risking another election to secure his right-wing political future
The Yisrael Beytenu chairman has ruled out a minority coalition dependent on Arab parties. He is banking on Likud defectors, but is actually erecting a roadblock for the center-left
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Political correspondent Ariela Karmel appears on the Daily Briefing podcast with host Jessica Steinberg (Flash 90)
October 11, 2026, 2:00 pm
Daily Briefing Oct. 11 – A message to Eisenkot? Joint List vows to do ‘anything’ to oust Netanyahu
Political correspondent Ariela Karmel discusses possible signaling from the Arab party to the opposition front-runner, and the positioning of Ofer Winter’s People of Israel party
By Jessica Steinberg and Ariela Karmel
A convoy of supporters of the Islamist Ra'am party in southern Israel (L), and one of the alleged members of the convoy bound, on October 7, 2026. (X/Moshe Feiglin, X/Itamar Ben Gvir)
October 8, 2026, 6:13 am
Ben Gvir touts arrests of Ra’am biker convoy, claims scenes reminiscent of Oct. 7
Far-right minister posts photo of bound motorcyclist, doesn’t say how many arrested or what convoy was doing illegally; Feiglin says the mostly Arab party has same ideology, flag as Hamas
By Noam Lehmann
Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, at a campaign rally in Haifa, September 23, 2026. (Sharon Leibel/Flash90)
September 26, 2026, 11:53 pm
Eisenkot says Ra’am won’t be in his government, calls Netanyahu ‘a pathological liar’
Main election challenger says PM has instilled a ‘culture of dishonesty’ in public discourse, describes PM’s approval of Qatari funds that went to Hamas as somewhere ‘between breach of trust and treason’
By Michael Bachner
Yoav Segalovitz, right, reaches for the hand of Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas at a press conference in Nazareth on August 31, 2026. (Michael Giladi/FLASH90)
September 17, 2026, 11:48 am
A Jewish Zionist running with Ra’am, Segalovitz tells ToI he aims to smash the political paradigm
Former senior cop and Yesh Atid lawmaker admits differences on social issues with Islamist party, but says main concern is tackling rampant crime and advancing coexistence
By Tal Schneider
Yashar party chair Gadi Eisenkot (L) in Rosh HaAyin, September 7, 2026, and Ra'am party chair Mansour Abbas in Jerusalem, September 7, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90, Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
September 16, 2026, 7:45 pm
Eisenkot denies claim he promised Bedouin leaders he’d bring Ra’am into government
Election frontrunner releases recording of meeting, says makeup of future coalition not discussed; Bennett says he is running for PM, but will respect whoever bloc chooses for role after election
By Ariela Karmel and ToI Staff
Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar party, attends the presentation of the party’s candidate list ahead of the upcoming general elections in Rosh HaAyin, September 7, 2026. (Flash90)
September 14, 2026, 6:09 pm
As parties lock in, Eisenkot plots path to power through heart of old Likud
With political landscape static, Netanyahu’s way to victory is uncertain, while his chief rival is leaning right with a new party that looks a lot like what Likud used to be
By Ariela Karmel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) in Jerusalem on September 7 and Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot in Rosh HaAyin on September 7, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)
September 10, 2026, 11:18 am
Election polls show little change, continued deadlock after party slates finalized
Eisenkot’s Yashar is largest party in TV polls but neither bloc has clear path to majority; opposition officials said pressuring Gantz to quit, viewing him as obstacle to victory
By ToI Staff
Ra’am party chief Mansour Abbas (left) holds a joint press conference with new party member Yoav Segalovitz in Nazareth, August 31, 2026. (Michael Giladi/FLASH90)
September 1, 2026, 1:03 pm
Full speech: Yoav Segalovitz joins Arab party Ra’am with hopes for ‘a shared future’
Former senior police official and Yesh Atid MK calls on ‘Jews, Arabs, Muslims, Christians and Druze to put their trust in this move and join us’
Ra’am party chairman Mansour Abbas (center right) holds a joint press conference with former Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz (center left), who will run on the Ra'am slate in October's election, in Nazareth, August 31, 2026. (Michael Giladi/FLASH90)
August 31, 2026, 10:58 pm
In unprecedented move, Abbas and Segalovitz announce joint run, bringing Jewish lawmaker to Arab party’s slate
Ra’am chief: We need to create partnerships and ‘see the other as a human being, not as an enemy’; Segalovitz: ‘The assertion that after October 7 it is impossible to maintain a political partnership with Arab parties is false’
By Sam Sokol and JTA
Ra'am chairman Mansour Abbas (left) and former Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz in a handout photo released by the party on August 26, 2026. (Courtesy)
August 26, 2026, 7:35 pm
Abbas eyes Segalovitz pact amid backlash for saying he’s ‘compelled’ to accept Jewish state
Ra’am chair angers right-wing lawmakers in Facebook post asserting that Arab politicians must accept ‘imposed’ reality of Israel’s Jewish character; Erdan: Abbas wants a caliphate
By ToI Staff and Sam Sokol
Ra’am chairman MK Mansour Abbas addresses party delegates at their convention in Taibe, August 22, 2026. (Facebook)
August 22, 2026, 11:34 pm
Ra’am’s Abbas says Palestinian state ‘a reality,’ drawing outrage from Zionist parties
Arab party chairman tells delegates he wants to be part of the opposition ‘change bloc,’ but immediately draws censure from that bloc’s leaders
By Sam Sokol and ToI Staff
MK Yoav Segalovitz attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset on October 20, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
August 16, 2026, 1:49 pm
How an obscure centrist politician could be key to defeating Netanyahu in October
Yoav Segalovitz’s speculated move from Yesh Atid to Ra’am could give the Arab party a new image — and the opposition the seats it needs to form a government
By Tomer Almagor
MK Mansour Abbas (left) in the Knesset, July 15, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); MK Yoav Segalovitz (right) speaks at a Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting, June 16, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
August 13, 2026, 3:25 pm
Ra’am’s Abbas, former Yesh Atid MK Segalovitz confirm ongoing talks on Knesset run
Negotiations come as Islamist party seeks to shed its religious image; far-right Otzma Yehudit party claims Abbas using the move to turn Negev and Galilee into ‘Islamic territory’
By Sam Sokol
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