Ra’am Picks Up Ally in Islamic Movement Election

Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas has picked up an important ally— Sheikh Safwat Freij, the newly elected head of the Southern Islamic Movement, according to The Times of Israel.

Freij is said to be a good friend of Abbas and a like-minded “moderate” Islamist, not like the “radical” in the Northern branch. Ra’am, currently a member of the governing coalition, is considered a political arm of the Islamic Movement.

Israel authorities banned the northern branch for alleged terror ties in 2015, and its leader Sheikh Raed Salah recently finished serving over a year in prison for incitement. The Southern branch has avoided such unpleasantries by essentially accepting the existence of the state of Israel and trying to work within it for better conditions for its constituents.

Freij defeated his main opponent, Sheikh Mohammad Salameh Hassan, by a vote of 293-214. Hassan was considered to represent a more traditional approach for the Islamic Movement, denouncing Israel as an “occupation government” and calling all Israelis “settlers,” the Times said.