Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas announced Monday that his Islamist party would become a broad-based party open to Jewish candidates, in a major shift.

“Every citizen of the State of Israel — Jewish and Arab — can join Ra’am and be among its Knesset candidates,” Abbas said in a radio interview with Radio 103fm. “I want to expand the ranks of the party within Jewish society.”

Asked whether he was already speaking with potential Jewish candidates who could join Ra’am, Abbas said, “There are Jewish Knesset members with whom I see eye to eye, and I would be honored if they joined Ra’am.”

Ra’am is affiliated with the southern branch of the Islamic Movement, and its candidate lists have historically been exclusively Arab Muslim. However, the party announced last month that it would separate from the religious council to which it is linked and establish its own institutions.

That, combined with the latest move to open the party to Jewish candidates, appears to be aimed at distancing the party from hardline Muslim organizations in order to boost its legitimacy among Zionist Israeli parties ahead of elections set to be held before the end of October.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to threaten in November to outlaw the Arab political party, claiming........

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