Why Mansour Abbas Is Welcoming a Zionist Politician to Transform Ra'am's Electoral Strategy

When Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas appeared alongside former Yesh Atid lawmaker Yoav Segalovich to announce that Segalovich would run second on the party’s electoral slate, the immediate focus centered on an unprecedented pairing: an openly Zionist, Jewish former police major-general holding a top spot in a conservative Islamist Arab party.

While Jewish participation in political lists representing Palestinian citizens of Israel has historical precedents in parties like Hadash—where Ofer Cassif currently sits as an outspoken lawmaker—the Abbas-Segalovich arrangement is distinct. Segalovich is a mainstream Israeli figure whose political biography includes serving as deputy public security minister in coalition governments led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, where he gained credibility among Arab local leaders for addressing organized crime.

Under the arrangement, Segalovich will join the electoral list and parliamentary faction without becoming a full member of Ra'am, retaining the freedom to vote independently on issues like religion and state, security, and LGBTQ rights. This move goes beyond securing additional votes from an August Channel 13 poll; rather, Abbas aims to alter the fundamental political value of the seats his party wins.

Since breaking with the Joint List to enter the Bennett-Lapid coalition in 2021, Abbas has argued that Palestinian citizens of Israel hold representation without converting it into governing power. Although the subsequent collapse of the government, the rise of Benjamin Netanyahu, and the aftermath of October 7 eroded much of the legitimacy Abbas built, opposition figures like Avigdor Liberman continue to reject Ra'am as a coalition partner. By placing a Zionist former police commander second on the list, Abbas is attempting to create a certificate of political usability to ensure Arab votes count toward actual governance.

Meanwhile, the Joint List—comprising Hadash, Taal, and Balad—has criticized Abbas for opting for integration and practical governance over a unified Palestinian political identity. As the political debate continues among Palestinian citizens of Israel, the ultimate test for Abbas's calculated transaction will be whether Jewish opposition leaders eventually deem a government supported by Palestinian representatives fully legitimate.