There was no surprise among Hadash and Arab parties at the agreement between Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to raise the Knesset electoral threshold to 3.25 percent of the vote, as part of the so-called “governability” bill whose final readings are to be heard soon.

Final poll, 50 hours before elections (Photo: Arutz 10)

Hadash leading activists and Arab political figures said the right wing is trying to ensure its continued parliamentary majority by clearing the plenum of Arab MKs as much as possible. But they say the move could come back to haunt the right, because the Hadash and Arab parties will find a way to unite into one or two election lists and campaign on the slogan that the right and Lieberman don’t want Arabs and leftists in the Knesset. That, they say, will bring out their voters en masse and end up actually increasing the Arab presence in the legislature.

“As usual, Netanyahu doesn’t keep his promise and he gave in to Lieberman, and this bill expresses the antidemocratic nature of the government and the coalition,” said Hadash chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh. “This is not an administrative decision but a political decision reeking of deep-seated racism.” According to MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) “This is an essentially antidemocratic bill because Israel is a multicultural society.” “The electoral threshold should be lowered, not raised, to allow parliamentary representation for minorities. The small parties, including the Arab parties, were never the factor that hurt governance, but rather the big parties and the coalitions,” said.

Related:

Netanyahu & Lieberman agree to raise electoral threshold; Hadash calls move anti-democratic

Association for Civil Rights protests raising the elections threshold

MK Khenin: A terrorist attack on democracy