Likud Submits Racist Bill to Deny Hadash Leadership of Opposition

The leading far-right Likud party of PM Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed a racist bill which would prevent Joint List Chairman MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash) from becoming the head of the opposition if and when a unity government is eventually formed between the Likud and other rightwing parties and the Zionist center-left.

MK Ayman Odeh (first from left), last Monday, November 4, with Joint List MKs inside the protest tent set up nearby the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem to call for tangible governmental action against violence and crime in the Arab community; the large banner at the left reads “We want to live without violence and crime.” The banner to the right reads: "1,395 fatalities since the year 2000."

MK Ayman Odeh (first from left), last Monday, November 4, with Joint List MKs inside the protest tent set up nearby the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem to call for tangible governmental action against violence and crime in the Arab community; the large banner at the left reads “We want to live without violence and crime.” The banner to the right reads: “1,395 fatalities since the year 2000.” (Photo: Al Ittihad)

Currently, the opposition leader receives regular diplomatic and security updates from the prime minister, as well as other privileges. Likud MK Shlomo Karhi, who spearheaded the racist bill, explained: “Despite the chance that a minority government will be formed [by Blue & White leader MK Benny Gantz] and the possibility that Ayman Odeh will be in the coalition [or support it from outside], we in the Likud are aiming to form a national unity government led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and we are making preparations towards that end.”

The racist Karhi incited against all the parliamentary representatives of the Arab-Palestinian community in Israel: “If a unity government is formed, according to current law Ayman Odeh, Chairman of the Joint List, the members of which support terror, would become, the head of the opposition. As a result, he would receive special status and privileges, including diplomatic and security updates from the Prime Minister, and he would address the Knesset every time the PM does. Providing regular security updates to those who support terror is an insane reality that is unthinkable.”