Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot came under fire on Thursday after saying he would not rule out a future coalition partnership with United Arab List chairman Mansour Abbas during an interview with Channel 13 News.

Asked whether he would reject the possibility of sitting in a government with Abbas, Eisenkot replied that he would not. He then criticized the Likud, saying, "Likud, with its cynicism, would gladly sign today on Yoseph Haddad as a Knesset member, but it doesn't say, 'He is Arab, I won't sit with him.' That is Netanyahu's method of divide and rule. Remove 21% of Arab citizens from the camp."

The remarks drew a sharp response from Arab public diplomacy activist Yoseph Haddad, who said he was puzzled by Eisenkot's comparison. "I tried to understand the context, and I went back over his answer several times. I admit I could not understand it, and I was even surprised by it," Haddad said.

"Are you comparing me to Mansour Abbas because both of us are Arabs?" he asked. "Besides our Arab identity, there is nothing in common between us. You served in the Golani Brigade, Gadi, and so did I. Are you comparing a disabled Golani veteran with someone who is unable to call Hamas a terrorist organization? Are you comparing me, who founded a joint Arab-Israeli organization that promotes partnership and advocates for the State of Israel, with Mansour Abbas, whose party has been linked to the '48 Aid Association, which published investigations allege transferred funds to terrorist organizations, including Hamas?"

Haddad insisted there was "nothing" connecting him to the UAL leader and rejected any attempt to "whitewash or legitimize" Abbas through such comparisons. "I strongly oppose the path of the Arab parties. They should not be brought into the coalition. They should be thrown out," he said.

Concluding his statement, Haddad revealed that he is still weighing whether to enter politics but has not yet reached a decision.

"The Arab parties in the Knesset today should be boycotted not because they are Arab, because I am Arab, but because they are anti-Israeli," he said. "Boycotting Arab parties is not racism. Saying that Mansour Abbas and I are the same because we are both Arabs is racism."