A photo of Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas and King Abdullah of Jordan in the royal palace in Amman was the hottest item on the rightwing opposition’s Facebook and Twitter accounts yesterday [Nov. 9].

For several weeks, the Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, has been alleging links between Abbas and Hamas. The campaign gathered momentum during the debates over the budget, in which Ra’am obtained billions of shekels for the Arab sector. The rightwing opposition claimed that some of this money would be funneled to Gaza by way of civilian NGOs associated with the Islamic Movement in Israel [affiliated with Ra’am], and that it would then be used to fund terrorist activities.

Following a recent investigation by Channel 13 news, Likud activists accused Ra’am of having improper ties with the Assistance 48 Association, claiming that the association receives public financial support and that some of the money had been transferred to Hamas. “It’s a budget with blood on its hands,” according to one of the slogans used to promote this campaign.

The campaign depicted Abbas as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The right argued that behind his soft-spoken message of equality was a man who did not believe in the very existence of the State of Israel. The government responded that Netanyahu himself laid the groundwork for bringing Abbas into the coalition by negotiating with him personally for Ra’am to join a Likud-led government.