The Jerusalem Post has learned that Mandelblit said the database would be illegal unless the Knesset passes a law that properly balances civil rights concerns while giving the Strategic Affairs Ministry the authority to collect such information. In cases where an Israeli citizen is believed to pose a security threat, the Shin Bet security services are responsible for monitoring the citizen, Mandelblit said. Joint List MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash) responded to Erdan's plan on Twitter stating, "The thing that frightens this government the most (except for free media) is a nonviolent struggle against the occupation – we promise to continue the struggle." These revelations of Erdan’s intent come follow the passage of a law earlier this month which allows the Interior Ministry to refuse entrance or residency visas to non-Israelis if they have "issued a public call to boycott Israel – including settlements in the West Bank" – or have stated their intention to participate in a boycott. In December, Erdan, who is also the Public Security Minister, proposed new legislation that sought to blacklist companies who advocate a boycott of Israel or Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Last weekend, more than 800 Israelis signed a petition which opens "Gilad Erdan Note: We Boycott the Settlements!" The petition continues: "We, who wish the best for the State of Israel, are highly concerned by the deterioration into subjugation and oppression of minorities and dissenters. It has just become known that the Minister of Public Security, Mr. Gilad Erdan, seeks to compile a database of Israelis who call for the boycott of settlements. This move comes on the heels of an Israeli Government decision to block the entry to Israel of non-Israelis who support the boycott of settlements. UN Security Council Resolution 2334 calls upon UN member states to differentiate between Israel proper and the occupied territories. Settlements create a reality of apartheid, are responsible for extensive human rights violations against Palestinians, and lead to actions of ethnic cleansing." The petition concludes: "Our response to those actions [the law blocking entrance of BDS supporters] is to call upon all decent persons, in Israel and abroad, to ANNOUNCE A TOTAL BOYCOTT OF THE SETTLEMENTS -- ECONOMIC, CULTURAL, AND ACADEMIC -- and will do our utmost to convince others that such a boycott is essential for the preservation of Israeli democracy."

Minister Seeks Database of Israeli Activists; Petition – “Erdan Note, We’re Boycotting the Settlements”

Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan plans to compile a database of Israelis involved in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel or Israeli settlements in the Palestinian occupied West Bank. The database would center on “the main boycott activists working with the BDS movement in order to prevent their attacks” Erdan wrote…

Minister of Security Gilad Erdan’s tweet in Hebrew on January 18, 2017, the day of the violent incident at the unrecognized village of Umm al-Hiran in the Negev: “The terrorist sharply turned his wheel and quickly accelerated in order to run down a group of police officers."

Adalah Demands Criminal Investigation of Public Security Minister Erdan for Incitement

Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel – is demanding a criminal investigation into Israel’s Minister of Public Security, Gilad Erdan, for incitement to racism against Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel. Adalah Attorney, Nadeem Shehadeh, sent a letter to Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit in response to a series of public statements…

Hadash Lawmaker Meets UN Secretary-general in New York

MK Ayman Odeh, the chairman of Hadash-Ta’al joint list, met with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in New York on Friday. The meeting was scheduled following far-right Benjamin Netanyahu’s election victory on November 1, and ahead of the formation of a new racist Israeli government. Odeh was expected to present Guterres with concerns regarding the…

Joint List chairman MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash) was among the pallbearers carrying the body of Yaqoub Musa Abu al-Qee’an to his grave on January 24, 2017, near the village of Umm al-Hiran. Contrary to Muslim tradition requiring immediate burial of a corpse, the funeral was delayed by nearly a week as Israel's Police Force refused to release al-Qee'an's body as part of its punishment for the alleged "terrorist's" family.

Netanyahu “Apologizes” to Family of Arab-Bedouin Wrongfully Killed by Police; Draws Parallel to Himself

More than three and a half years after the police killing of the Arab-Bedouin school teacher Yaqoub Musa Abu al-Qee’an, 47, far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly apologized during a press conference on Tuesday, September 8, to the victim’s family, a day after Israel’s Channel 12 News presented correspondence between senior law enforcement officials revealing misconduct…

While adhering to social distancing regulations, thousands participate in a “Black Flag Protest" that was held Sunday evening, April 19, in Rabin Square in Central Tel Aviv.

Fearing Possible Popular Uprising, Ministers Seek to Limit Protest Size

Far-right governmental ministers are reportedly pushing to limit the size of protests as part of restrictions ostensibly aimed at containing the coronavirus. Until now, protests have been one of the few public activities allowed under Israel’s strict lockdown rules. The most prominent of these protests have been political in nature directed against far-right and corrupt…

MK Ayman Odeh addresses protesters in the rally held Sunday evening in Central Tel-Aviv. The backdrop behind him reads: "Black Flag Protest – Fighting for Democracy."

Thousands Rally in TA; Hadash MK Odeh Calls for a Broad Jewish-Arab Coalition for Peace and Democracy

Thousands of “Black Flag” protestors, among them Hadash and Communist Party of Israel activists, gathered on Sunday evening, April 19, in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square to demonstrate against the far-right government. The anti-Netanyahu protest was the most political in nature of the several led by grassroots movement over the past month since COVID-19 restrictions have been…