JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The “Choosing Life” Forum revealed footage on Israel’s Channel 14 showing Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas, a current member of Knesset, meeting with senior leaders of the Hamas terrorist organization, according to a Kol Hayehudi report.

The footage reportedly shows Abbas sitting in 2018 with senior officials from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Fatah in an attempt to promote reconciliation and cooperation between the groups. Among those present were Mousa Abu Marzouk and Hussam Badran, both senior Hamas figures. Badran is described as one of the most  deadly terrorists Israel has known.

Badran previously served as commander of Hamas’s military wing in the West Bank and was involved in planning and promoting a series of deadly suicide bombings in which dozens of Israelis were killed, including:The Dolphinarium discotheque bombing in Tel Aviv, the Park Hotel bombing in Netanya, the Matza Restaurant bombing in Haifa and the Sbarro restaurant bombing in Jerusalem, all during the second intifada (2001-2004).

After being released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal, he was expelled from the region and has since operated on behalf of Hamas from Qatar and Turkey.

Following the publication of the footage, the Choosing Life Forum stated:

“When Mansour Abbas chooses to stand alongside a man whose hands are stained with the blood of dozens of Israelis, the public has the right to know whom he is meeting, whom he represents, and what interests he is advancing. For us, the bereaved families and victims of terrorism, these are not merely names from newspaper headlines, but the murderers responsible for the most painful losses imaginable.”

The statement continued: “In light of the information that has been revealed, we call on the Shin Bet to immediately open a comprehensive investigation into Mansour Abbas on suspicion of contact with a foreign agent and to conduct a thorough examination of all his ties to senior terrorist leaders. If it is found that laws were violated, we demand that he be prosecuted to the fullest extent and that an indictment be filed against him.”

In its investigation “The Revolution in Syria – The Israeli Connection,” HaKol HaYehudi  claimed that over the years, Arab citizens of Israel donated tens of millions of shekels to Syria, ostensibly to help refugees suffering during the Syrian civil war. According to the report, however, these funds were directed primarily to organizations affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which operated among populations concentrated in refugee camps on both sides of the Syria–Turkey border and were allegedly preparing for the day they could regain control of Syria.

One of the main organizations involved in raising such funds was Aid 48 (Musa’adat 48), affiliated with Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am Party. The organization established large refugee villages named “Haifa al-Karmel,” “Jaffa,” and “Galilee.”

A significant portion of the connections between Arab citizens of Israel and hostile elements in Syria reportedly took place through people who continued to identify themselves as Palestinians. These individuals had lived for years in UNRWA refugee camps, which, according to the article, helped preserve their connection to the land of Israel, and they moved over time according to developments in the Syrian conflict.

The issue came to light, among other things, through a HaKol HaYehudi investigation into the ties between Ra’am’s Aid 48 organization and the Turkish organization Khayr Ummah, which the article describes as a Hamas-affiliated charity operating among Syrian refugees in Turkey.

According to the report, it was demonstrated that the extensive financial aid sent by Arab citizens of Israel to Syria through Aid 48 was intended not only to support refugees but also to promote the ideology and vision of returning to Israel and Jerusalem among the Syrian-Turkish refugee population.

One example cited was a summer camp organized by Aid 48 together with Syrian Hamas activists, called “Jerusalem Camp.” The publication states that it translated and exposed the camp’s content.

At the camp’s closing ceremony, a sheikh reportedly addressed the children and declared: “We will go up to Jerusalem with rifles,” and added that the future lay not in the Oslo Accords but in “the tunnels of Gaza.”

Another detail highlighted in the investigation was the use of a special vehicle referred to as the “Al-Aqsa Vehicle.” The vehicle was fitted with a structure resembling the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. According to the article, Ali Qatnani, chairman of Aid 48, and other activists used this vehicle while distributing food boxes and aid to Syrian refugees.

In addition, activists from the Hamas-linked Khayr Ummah organization reportedly published a video marking the 69th Nakba Day, featuring Syrian children declaring:”I am from Tarshiha,””Haifa is my city,”and similar statements.

The children were shown singing songs about returning to Palestine and proclaiming: “Millions of martyrs will return to Jerusalem,” while riding in the same Al-Aqsa-themed vehicle.