The head of Israel’s Islamist Ra’am Party on Saturday downplayed the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, saying that while the threat was real, it was not existential.

“I don’t see the Iranian nuclear issue as an existential threat to Israel. There is certainly a threat, but we’ll leave that to the professionals,” said Mansour Abbas, speaking at a cultural event in Beersheva.

The Ra’am leader also said at the event that he was not ruling out political collaboration with the Likud Party in the future, but declined to reveal what Likud head and then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had offered him in the last election.

“My political partners are also pushing me to release things,” he said.... Read More: Israel Hayom