Introduction
Mansour Abbas (Arabic: منصور عباس, Hebrew: מַנְסוּר עַבַּאס, born 22 April 1974) is an Israeli Arab politician. The leader of the United Arab List, he is currently a member of the Knesset for the party and the Joint List.
Biography
Abbas was born in the village of Maghar, where he began delivering sermons at the Peace Mosque at the age of 17. He attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to study dentistry, where he was elected chair of the Arab Students Committee. Whilst at university he met Abdullah Nimar Darwish, the founder of the Islamic Movement. He also studied political science at the University of Haifa.
In 2007 Abbas became Secretary General of the United Arab List, and in 2010 he was elected Deputy Chairman of the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement.
The United Arab List and Balad ran a joint list for the April 2019 Knesset elections, with Abbas as the top candidate. He was subsequently elected to the Knesset as the alliance won four seats.
Abbas is married with two children and lives in Maghar, where he works as a dentist.