"No chance I'll answer": President Herzog refused to condemn Ra'am

In a special holiday interview on Channel 14's main newscast, President Isaac Herzog firmly refused to condemn the Ra'am party, after anchor Maggie Tabibi questioned him about party chairman Mansour Abbas's meeting with senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials in Turkey. Herzog accused Tabibi of trying to "drag him" against Abbas, and relied on the Supreme Court's decision that validated the party's candidacy.

In a special holiday interview on Channel 14, President Isaac Herzog firmly refused to condemn the Ra'am party, after anchor Maggie Tabibi asked him how a party whose chairman, Mansour Abbas, met with senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials in Turkey in 2018, still runs for the Knesset. Herzog accused Tabibi of trying to "drag him" against Abbas, and replied that there is no chance he will answer. He relied on the Supreme Court's decision that validated the party's candidacy, noting that the entire political system talks with Ra'am in the Knesset. Tabibi emphasized that this is a principled question the public wants an answer to, but Herzog refused to address the substance of the matter and argued that it is not the president's role to deal with it. The interview ended with Tabibi stating that the president refuses to condemn.