MK Mansour Abbas, leader of the Islamist Ra'am Party in Israel's Knesset, claimed that the Israeli-Arab vote will play a key role in the upcoming election in an interview with the Financial Times published on Sunday.
"The Arab vote will be very important in the election. It will tip the scales," Abbas said.
Abbas told the London-based outlet that he expects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "far Right government" to try to take advantage of the mood of society towards Israeli-Arabs since the October 7 massacre in order to delegitimize the Arab parties, or even attempt to ban them.
Abbas's comments come after Netanyahu praised US President Donald Trump's decision to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Netanyahu promised to "complete the process" of banning the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been perceived as a threat to Ra'am.
Abbas denies that Ra'am has any links to the Islamist movement and called to separate from the organization, as well as the Shura Council, earlier in December.
"Netanyahu's government is trying to delegitimize us... they don't want us to have a political role," Abbas said.
The Arab party leader has also repeatedly condemned Hamas's October 7 massacre.
"We don't have the privilege to ignore this threat because we see the government is able to do anything - they feel the State of Israel is their own," he added.
"The relationship between Arabs and Jews showed it was stronger than all the incitement," Abbas said. However, the stakes have never been higher, he argued, as Arab parties fear they may not be allowed to compete in future elections if Netanyahu's coalition wins another term.
"They believe in a Jewish state - not a Jewish democratic state," Abbas argued.
Netanyahu's main obstacle is the Arab vote
"Netanyahu knows the main obstacle to him is the Arab vote," Hassan Jabareen of Adalah (The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel), said.
"It's different from the legal and political situation before," Jabareen added. "In politics, you say what you want before an election, and you do what you want after the election."
In 2021, Netanyahu was the one who first reached out to Abbas when the prime minister was struggling to form a majority in the Knesset, Abbas noted.
"Netanyahu gave me legitimacy in politics, but then turned on me," Abbas stated. "After October 7, we need the partnership between Jews and Arabs."
Both communities have suffered trauma since the war began, Abbas argued. Firstly, Jewish Israelis suffered trauma from the massacre, and then Israeli-Arabs, who experienced Israel's retaliations, faced heightened racism and harassment.