Palestinians and other Arabs are furious because Mansour Abbas — an Arab member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, and head of the United List Party — announced that he recognizes Israel as a Jewish state.
Abbas is being denounced as a “traitor” and “Zionist” by many Palestinians and Arabs who define their countries and political systems as “Arab” or “Islamic.” They claim that the idea of a Jewish state is “racist” but seem not to feel the same way about openly Islamic states: The Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
