Herzog presses Abbas to call Hamas a terrorist organization during consultation meeting

Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas recommended Gadi Eisenkot to form Israel’s next government on Thursday, during a meeting with President Isaac Herzog that included a pointed exchange over whether Abbas considers Hamas a terrorist organization.

The meeting took place during the second day of consultations at the President’s Residence. Earlier, United Torah Judaism representatives withheld a recommendation, while Otzma Yehudit endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu following clashes with Herzog over election integrity.

Abbas said Ra’am believed Eisenkot could assemble a stable government despite the complicated election results.

“We have decided to recommend Gadi Eizenkot for the position of Prime Minister,” Abbas told Herzog, according to the supplied transcript. He said a new government should serve all Israeli citizens and argued that the current administration had failed on national security, personal safety, economic and social security, and relations between communities.

Abbas said the parties could bridge their differences and establish a government capable of completing a four-year term.

The discussion turned contentious when Herzog asked him directly about Hamas.

“Ultimately, we are at war with Hamas—a cursed, heinous organization and an enemy,” Herzog said. “Do you consider Hamas a terrorist organization?”

Abbas did not explicitly answer yes in the supplied exchange. Instead, he pointed to what he described as the Islamic Movement’s longstanding opposition to terrorism and challenged the repeated demands that Ra’am demonstrate its loyalty.

“It is unreasonable to constantly subject us to this test of loyalty and adherence to the law,” he said.

Abbas also expressed support for a two-state solution and a framework under which Hamas and other armed organizations would be disarmed. Reporting on the meeting likewise described him as stopping short of explicitly designating Hamas a terrorist organization while calling for its disarmament.

Netanyahu seized on the exchange, portraying Abbas’s response as a refusal to answer Herzog’s question.

Netanyahu summarized Abbas’s answer as: “We cannot be put to this test.” That wording differs from the longer response in the supplied transcript.

Netanyahu also argued that Ra’am’s endorsement demonstrated Eisenkot’s dependence on Arab parties to form a government.