Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas said Wednesday that one of the tracks being explored for forming the next government involves cooperation between the chareidi parties and Ra’am, with backing from the Joint List.
“The track being worked on now is cooperation between the chareidi parties and Ra’am, with a safety net from the Joint List,” Abbas told Radio a-Shams. “We can’t give details or talk about it.”
No chareidi party has publicly confirmed the arrangement Abbas described.
The change bloc, led by Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot, is holding talks with both the chareidi parties and the Arab parties as it tries to put together a coalition. According to reports, the bloc prefers a coalition with the chareidim at this stage, but has not ruled out including Ra’am.
The track Abbas described runs against the stated position of a key member of the bloc. Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman said on Tuesday that he opposes a government that relies on Ra’am or the Joint List.
Abbas has signaled flexibility in recent days. Days after declining to define Hamas as a terrorist organization at the President’s Residence, he expressed willingness in principle to meet Eisenkot’s demand to do so, according to reports. In exchange, he is seeking real integration of Ra’am into the government.
Earlier Wednesday, Abbas accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of incitement over his speech at Tuesday’s swearing-in of the new Knesset. In that speech, Netanyahu attacked Abbas and the possibility of a government that depends on Arab parties. “There’s no doubt that after this speech my personal security was harmed, and my family’s security as well,” Abbas told 103FM, invoking the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
