The director-general of the President's Residence asked Ra'am MK Mansour Abbas on Thursday: why not say that Hamas is a terror organisation? Abbas answered: "I have a clear answer, but leave me room to be a bridge and to protect my family."
Legal reporter Avishay Grinzaig responded to the exchange: "I don't think Mansour Abbas himself supports terror, but if he can't say that Hamas is a terror organisation on the grounds of 'protecting my family' --- how can such a person be part of a Zionist government that is supposed to make sensitive security decisions regarding terror organisations?"
He added:
"Ra'am's claim is that they want to advance a civilian agenda, and mainly to fight crime in Arab society."
"If you're afraid of Hamas to the point that you don't dare say it's a terror organisation, how exactly will you fight murderous crime organisations that live in your city and next to your family members?"
"That's 'a bit' more dangerous and stressful than a distant scenario where a Hamas operative eliminates you because you said the obvious, that it's a terror organisation."
