Mansour Abbas Urges Arab Voters to Turn Out in Force Against the Government

Ra’am chairman and MK Mansour Abbas called on Arab citizens of Israel to vote in large numbers in the next Knesset election, saying the only way to change government policy is through the ballot box. In a video posted on social media, he urged Arab voters to help bring down what he described as the current government.

Abbas attacked National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, accusing him of pursuing a policy of demolishing homes in Arab society and boasting about the number of structures destroyed. He said Ben Gvir was threatening to continue the demolitions until the election and claimed that he had destroyed about 5,700 homes in the Arab community. Abbas also linked the increase in killings in Arab society to this policy.

He blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for empowering Ben Gvir, saying Netanyahu brought him into the Knesset and government and gave him demolition powers. Abbas said a protest held in Beersheba against the government’s policy was not enough to stop the demolitions, the killings, or the path of what he called a racist and fascist government.

Abbas stressed that “this government came by the ballot box and will fall by the ballot box,” and said there is no excuse for any Arab voter not to participate. He called Arab turnout in the upcoming election “a national act, a moral act, a human act, and an essential political necessity,” saying Arab voters must protect their future, their right to housing, and their right to live with dignity in Arab towns and villages in the Negev, the Galilee, the Triangle, and other cities.