An unknown user created a fictitious profile for Joint List MK Mansour Abbas on the LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr, N12 reported on Friday.
The profile for the user, Mansour_abbas, alleges that he is searching for "dates," and features a photo of the 46-year-old conservative politician.
על רקע פיצול הרשימה המשותפת והיחס לקהילה הגאה: שמו ותמונתו של ח"כ מנסור עבאס הועלו לאפליקציית "גריינדר" pic.twitter.com/NluKnj59TQ
— החדשות - N12 (@N12News) January 29, 2021
The profile was likely created in response to the MK's negative views towards homosexuality, which caused an uproar in the LGBTQ+ community this week after Abbas dismantled the Joint List due to disagreements about LGBTQ+ rights.
The Ra'am (United Arab List) Party, which Abbas leads, stated as one of its conditions for remaining unified with the other three major Arab-Israeli parties, that the list not vote for bills that harm Ra'am's conservative religious identity, which include bills that promote LGBTQ+ rights.
In addition, Abbas also asked for greater freedom from faction discipline in pursuit of strengthening Ra'am's unlikely bond with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli right.
The Hadash Party of Joint List leader Ayman Odeh emphatically rejected Ra’am’s requests and said Abbas’s faction must respect previous agreements between the four parties, leaving the future of the union in jeopardy.
After a tense meeting at the party’s headquarters in Shfaram late on Wednesday, it was finally decided that Ra'am would be leaving the Joint List.
Tensions over the issue of LGBTQ+ rights have been high in the Joint List since a vote over a Meretz bill last summer that was aimed at preventing LGBT conversion therapies. Some members of the Joint List, including leader Ayman Odeh, voted in favor of the bill.
Udi Shaham contributed to this article.