Mansour Abbas
Mansour AbbasArutz Sheva

The chairman of the Ra'am party, MK Mansour Abbas, on Sunday evening commented on the possibility of supporting a right-wing government headed by Binyamin Netanyahu and acknowledged, "If appropriate conditions are met on a certain side, we will consider joining."

In an interview with Channel 12 News, Abbas promised to do everything possible to avoid another round of elections. He said he plans to present the candidates with an orderly plan and go with whoever will give him more.

On Netanyahu's statements that he rules out Abbas as a partner, he said, "Let us wait for the days after the election. We will see where the Arab voter will place Ra’am and we will see where the Israeli voter stands in general. Once we know what the division of powers is, we will know exactly what the real positions are."

"Look, all the politicians in an election period say one thing, and after the election do something else," Abbas stressed. Asked whether Netanyahu would agree in his opinion to be supported by Ra’am, he replied, "The issue is not specifically about Netanyahu, but would apply to any politician. Everyone will want to maintain power and keep their seat."

Netanyahu is known to have collaborated with Abbas’ Ra’am party on issues that are important to Arab Israelis in exchange for ensuring Ra’am’s support for Netanyahu for Prime Minister in the upcoming elections.

Abbas was previously a part of the predominantly Arab Joint List but split from it ahead of next week’s election.

Several recent polls have found that Netanyahu would need Ra’am in order to form a coalition after the upcoming election.