Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday warned against any political partnership with Islamist Arab parties, arguing that Egypt's crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood shows the danger of bringing Ra'am into Israel's next government.
"Egypt has completed the process of outlawing the Muslim Brotherhood," Katz wrote in a statement. He said the movement "operates together with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood's umbrella organization in Turkey to promote a revolution against Egyptian President el-Sisi," and that Hamas's head of foreign intelligence, Khaled Anam, was promoting and funding that effort while cooperating with elements of the Iranian regime.
Katz noted that the United States and many Arab states had welcomed Cairo's move. "Only here in Israel are there those who are working, even after the events of October 7, to bring Hamas's sister movement into the coalition and the government," he wrote.
His target was Ra'am and its leader, Mansour Abbas. "Its leader Abbas is not even willing to define Hamas as a terrorist organization, and is tied by an umbilical cord to an ideology that seeks to turn Israel into an Islamic caliphate," Katz wrote. "Those who are prepared to topple the president of the largest and strongest Arab state in the name of an extreme Islamic ideology will not hesitate to massacre the Jewish state if given the chance."
He called for "a broad national consensus not to cooperate in any way with Islamist and nationalist Arab parties that maintain ties with Israel's enemies and work for its destruction."
Egypt has designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group since 2013. Last week it made the designation permanent, ending the possibility of the group's listing expiring under previous time-limited court rulings. The United States commended Egypt on Saturday, with Massad Boulos, President Trump's senior adviser for Arab and African affairs, praising the decision on X.
Katz's statement comes amid reports of quiet contacts between the Arab parties and United Torah Judaism. The leaders of Ra'am and the Joint List are in regular contact with senior UTJ figures, and the sides update each other on their negotiations with the change bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, Kan News reporter Yaara Shapira revealed on Thursday.
According to the report, Abbas recommended in one of his conversations with UTJ leaders that they open negotiations with the change bloc on draft legislation. He believes a lenient arrangement backed by both political camps would carry broader legitimacy and could make UTJ the kingmaker in forming the next government. MK Yaakov Asher of UTJ has spoken several times in recent days with Abbas and MK Ahmad Tibi. Asher's office said these were "small talk only" and had nothing to do with political negotiations or coordinating moves.
Abbas has denied that Ra'am is part of the Muslim Brotherhood. In December 2025, he announced that the party would separate from the Shura Council, the religious body of the Islamic Movement's southern branch, to which Ra'am had been subordinate since its founding.
Meanwhile, Eisenkot, who chairs the Yashar party and is trying to assemble a coalition, accused Netanyahu of running a campaign against Arab citizens for political gain. "Arab citizens of Israel make up 21% of the general population. Since the start of the election campaign, they have faced a racist and violent campaign of delegitimization fueled by the outgoing prime minister and his circle for political reasons," he wrote.
Eisenkot said he would "leave no stone unturned and speak with every elected official who agrees to the four principles," the conditions he has set for joining his government, "with the aim of forming a stable government as soon as possible." He added: "One can disagree with the representatives of the Arab parties, one can even deeply loathe some of them, but it is not possible, not proper, and I will not allow an entire sector to be smeared."
The Muslim Brotherhood has come under mounting international pressure this year. In January, the United States designated the Egyptian, Lebanese, and Jordanian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as specially designated global terrorists. On 8 October 2026, the European Parliament adopted a resolution by 381 votes to 167 calling for Brotherhood-linked individuals and entities to be assessed for possible inclusion on the EU terrorist list.
