Weekly Commentary: Likud Official Puts Bennett's Choice of Mansour Abbas In
Context
Dr. Aaron Lerner 9 May 2026

We have a lot of serious issues to contend with in the upcoming elections
here in Israel.

And it is those serious issues which I want our candidates to address.

The mantra that somehow Bennett's forming a government with Mansour Abbas
disqualifies Bennett turns our attention from the serious issues.

Hat's off to Attorney Michael Kleiner - President of the Supreme Court of
the Likud - for essentially putting this matter to bed in his weekly column
in Maariv on 8 May 2026.
https://www.maariv.co.il/news/opinions/article-1318749
[original is in Hebrew]

... Mansour Abbas, from the day he was elected to the Knesset, has voiced
opinions that had not been heard in our parts before. The crowning glory of
these was a sensitive and moving speech on Holocaust Remembrance Day that
delved into surprising depths and nuances.

In contrast to Anwar Sadat, who expressed willingness for a settlement,
Abbas projected yearning.

It is no coincidence that he is perceived as a refreshing phenomenon in the
eyes of a long line of figures on the right, including Rabbi Chaim Druckman,
who met with him and was captivated by his charm.

Abbas expressed willingness to allow the formation of a Netanyahu right-wing
government in the 24th Knesset, but the move was torpedoed by Smotrich,
which led to the establishment of the Bennett-Lapid government.

I was angry at Smotrich at the time, but in retrospect it is possible that
justice was on his side.

I believe Mansour Abbas, but as the leader of a political party he must
compromise with broad segments of his party's leadership, its activists, and
its electorate - segments that do not genuinely and wholeheartedly identify
with his worldview.

It is possible that if the electoral threshold had returned to more
reasonable dimensions, Abbas could have established a party in his own image
and likeness, one backed by an Arab public proud of its Israeliness and
wishing to preserve Israel as it is.

However, in its current format, the joining of Ra'am - as it was revealed in
the Bennett government - to a right-wing government would have dismantled
both the government and Ra'am itself.

In retrospect, I am not at all sure whether Smotrich was painting demons on
the wall when he opposed the formation of a minority government dependent on
Ra'am.
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Arab-Israeli relations

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