Former MK Jamal Zahalka, chairman of the Balad party, said on Sunday that the Palestinian people will not forgive MK Mansour Abbas, chairman of Ra’am, for "the great political crime he committed against them".

In an interview with the official Hamas newspaper Felesteen, Zahalka said that Abbas gave political backing to the "occupation" government, led by "far-right" Naftali Bennett, "to kill Palestinians, break into the Al-Aqsa Mosque and bomb Gaza with missiles."

"The settlers and the religious Jews broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, waved Israeli flags, desecrated the plazas (of the mosque) under the security of the soldiers of the occupation, demolished houses, expelled Palestinians and uprooted their trees, and we heard nothing or condemnation from Mansour Abbas, as if those things did not happen," said Zahalka.

He expressed bewilderment at Abbas’ insistence not to resign from the coalition despite the government's policy against the Palestinians, and described Abbas' conduct in the Knesset as “trading a political position in exchange for a budget and financial aid.”

This conduct, Zahalka said, is fundamentally wrong for the Arab parties. He accused Abbas of undermining the national unity of the Arab parties.

Zahalka estimated that Ra’am is not resigning from the coalition because that would be considered an admission of failure, and Abbas is trying to achieve a great financial achievement even at the expense of the national problem.