Mansour Abbas

Mansour Abbas was born in 1974 in Maghar

Abbas was born in Maghar in northern Israel to a Muslim Arab family of farmers. He began giving sermons at a mosque at 17. He describes himself as an Arab, a Palestinian, a Muslim and a citizen of Israel.

He studied dentistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he chaired the Arab Students Committee in 1997 and 1998. He later earned a master's degree in political science at the University of Haifa. Sheikh Abdullah Nimer Darwish, who preached nonviolence and dialogue, shaped his views.

Abbas became secretary general of Ra'am in 2007 and deputy head of the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement in 2010. In 2018 he was elected Ra'am chairman and promoted a new movement charter based on wasati Islam. He entered the Knesset in 2019.

In 2021 Ra'am left the Joint List and ran alone, winning 4 seats. Abbas then signed a coalition deal with Yair Lapid, and Ra'am joined the 36th government. The deal included funding for Arab towns and recognition of Bedouin villages.

He was reelected in 2022. He condemned the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 and called for unity between Jews and Arabs. In December 2025 he announced that his party would separate from the Islamic Movement.