Abbas has already broken down the door — now he must change the club

Few politicians in Arab society have dared to challenge the rules of the game as deeply as Mansour Abbas has. One can agree with his path and one can disagree with his positions, but it is difficult to ignore the political courage required of him to propose a different conception of the place of Arab society in Israeli politics. Abbas sought to change a paradigm: not to settle for protest from the outside, but to strive for influence from the inside; not to be only those who vote against the government, but also those capable of being partners in its formation; not to settle for representation, but to translate electoral power into political power, and political power into real influence. This is not just pragmatism, it is a different conception of political citizenship. A society that constitutes a fifth of the country's citizens cannot accept a situation where their votes are counted on election day, but their representatives are excluded on the day a government is formed. It should be around the decision-making table, in the central committees, in the budget centers, and everywhere where policy is shaped and the state's priorities are determined.

In this sense, Abbas has already recorded a significant achievement. He proved that an Arab party can be part of a coalition, bear responsibility, and influence. No less important, he contributed to breaking the perception that Arab partnership in government is something impossible or illegitimate.

The Saglovich option

Even the possibility of integrating Yoav Saglovich into a political framework led by Abbas is, in my view, another brave step that shatters conventions. For years, people asked whether an Arab could integrate into a Zionist party. Why not also ask the opposite question: can a Zionist Jew integrate into an Arab political framework? If such a move is realized out of mutual respect for identities, it will carry an important message: partnership is not a one-way street. Saglovich does not need to give up his identity and his worldview to be a partner of Arabs, just as Abbas and his people do not need to give up their Arab and Palestinian identity to be partners of Jews.

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The success of Abbas must not, even unintentionally, help establish a division between "legitimate Arabs" with whom it is permissible to form a government and others who can continue to be excluded. It is precisely at this point that Abbas's great challenge lies. Israeli politics repeatedly places before Arab society a kind of entrance exam to the club of legitimacy: who is the Arab with whom it is "permissible" to sit, and who is the Arab whom it is permissible to boycott, who is "pragmatic" and who is "extremist", who passed the kashrut test and who remained outside the fence. A dangerous dichotomy.

His historic achievement will not be measured only by the fact that he himself received an entry ticket, but by the question of whether he succeeded in expanding the boundaries of legitimacy for the entire Arab society. Civil legitimacy is not a prize for good behavior. Arab citizens do not need to prove in every election cycle anew that they are worthy of participating in the democratic game. Their right to be part of decision-making stems from their citizenship, not from the degree of comfort their positions provide to the Jewish majority. And therefore, pragmatism should not come at the expense of identity. It is possible to be pragmatic and stand tall. It is possible to negotiate, reach compromises, join a coalition, and promote budgets — and at the same time maintain national identity, the narrative, the right to express a position regarding the Palestinian issue, and the demand for civil and national equality.

True partnership does not require partners to be similar. On the contrary: it is tested by their ability to be different, and sometimes even to disagree deeply, and yet recognize each other's legitimacy. And this also requires expanding the concept of Arab influence beyond budgets. Arab citizens are not just a public in need of budgets for education, employment, housing, and the fight against crime. They are partners in shaping the character of the state. They have a legitimate voice on questions of democracy, peace, equality, human rights, Jewish-Arab relations, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The next stage in Mansour Abbas's path

The first stage was to break down the door and prove that an Arab party can be a partner in a coalition and in centers of influence. Now the club itself must be changed: to make the partnership of Arab parties in forming a government a natural thing, to make the presence of Arab ministers around the government table something that does not require an apology, and to allow Jews to integrate into Arab frameworks and Arabs into Jewish frameworks, without anyone being required to deposit their identity at the entrance.

I appreciate the courage of Mansour Abbas precisely because he dared to do what many politicians before him were afraid to do. He has already moved boundaries that seemed fixed, and changed the discourse on the possibility of Arab political influence. But now a greater test stands before him. Not to settle for an entry ticket to the club, but to change the conditions for admission to it. Not to agree that the system decides which Arabs are "kosher" for partnership, but to challenge the very test of kashrut. Mansour Abbas has already broken down the door. His truly great historic contribution will be if, following him, the door remains open — not only for him and not only for those who are willing to pass an entrance exam, but for an entire public that is entitled to be a partner by right and not by grace.

Dr. Hussam Abu-Bakar, CEO of the Al-Fanar organization and lecturer at Ono Academic College, social activist and entrepreneur.