Raam leader Mansour Abbas and his colleague Waleed Taha visited the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem Aug. 8 and met with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. The visit included a briefing on the ministry and its different diplomatic activities.
"Today, we toured the Foreign Ministry and got acquainted with its professional staff, with the purpose of creating a framework that could especially serve and benefit Arab citizens and students. We thank Foreign Minister Lapid, the ministry’s CEO Ushpiz and all the ministry staff,’’ said Abbas after the visit. Lapid thanked Abbas and Taha for the visit, noting that the ministry deals with several issues that are pertinent to Arab-Israeli society, which is why it was so important to exchange views and opinions with the two Arab legislators.
Abbas' visit was exceptional, perhaps the first such by an Arab-Israeli Knesset member. Clearly, it marks a significant shift in the way the Israeli government perceives Arab society, particularly Arab-Israeli lawmakers.
The rare visit took place a week after the government's approval of Israel’s 2021-2022 state budget. Mazal Mualem noted for Al-Monitor that the approval was a personal victory for Abbas. Not only did he manage to double the budget allocated for Arab society, but he was the one to decide how the budget will be divided between the different cabinet ministries.
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
