Far-Right Initiative to Oust Hadash MK Ayman Odeh from the Knesset

Outgoing Negev and Galilee Minister MK Yizhak Wasserlauf pledged on Sunday, Jan 19, to initiate proceedings to expel Hadash-Ta’al chair, MK Ayman Odeh from the Knesset over a post by Odeh on X in response to the beginning of the implementation of the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. Odeh wrote on X, “Happy about the release of the hostages and prisoners. From here, both nations must be freed from the burden of occupation. We were all born free.”

Hadash-Ta’al chair, MK Ayman Odeh (Photo: Al-Ittihad)

Otzma Yehudit’s Wasserlauf, who resigned along with the rest of the racist party ministers on Sunday morning in protest of the deal with Hamas, said he would gather signatures to oust Odeh from the Knesset over his comments. “On Tuesday, when I return to the Knesset, I will act to get the Knesset members to sign a petition to oust Odeh. He should be thrown out of the Knesset immediately!”

MK Odeh returned to X on Tuesday to explain his remarks and point of view, which he said was shaped by his relatively unique position as a member of Arab-Palestinian national minority in Israel. “I understand that many people were hurt by my remarks,” he began. “I realized that unfortunately the families of the hostages, most of whom I am in close contact with and have supported throughout their struggle, were also hurt, and that truly saddens me. My perspective as a Palestinian citizen of Israel probably differs from the perspective of many Jewish citizens of Israel. While many of you tend to see primarily the Jewish suffering, I see and feel the suffering of both peoples,” Odeh continued. “This is simply the reality, not just mine, but of all Arabs living in this country.”

He stressed that he, too, was moved “as the abducted women, innocent of any crime, returned to their mothers’ arms,” but was equally as moved by the release of the 90 Palestinian prisoners later Sunday evening. Odeh asserted that “most of the prisoners released that day were not charged with anything at all,” as many were held in administrative detention — an anti-democratic tool enabling indefinite detention without charge that Israel uses against terror suspects, almost exclusively Palestinian, in cases were disclosing the evidence against them in court “could harm national security.”

“Although my words may be difficult for you, I am a citizen of Israel who also sees and feels the suffering of the Palestinian people, the suffering of my people who live under occupation,” Odeh said. Quoting Leo Tolstoy, he added: “If you feel pain, you’re alive. If you feel other people’s pain, you’re a human being.”

“I am a person who feels your pain, and I also live and feel the pain of my people,” the Hadash-Ta’al chair concluded. “Do not succumb to the wave of incitement and distortion.”

In July he was removed from the Knesset plenum after he called far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the biggest terrorist here” when the premier was addressing the Knesset. The past week again Odeh was removed as he condemned the massacre in Gaza.

In November, the Knesset’s Ethics Committee decided to remove Hadash lawmaker Ofer Cassif from plenary meetings and Knesset committee meetings for a period of six months. The committee also decided that his salary will be suspended for two weeks during the period of his suspension. “My political statements against the occupation, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and genocide committed by the Israeli government in Gaza – witnessed by the entire world – are well-founded statements protected under the freedom of political expression,” Cassif says in a statement.

An unprecedented impeachment votes against MK Cassif failed, February 19, in the Knesset plenum, with only 85 out of a required 90 lawmakers in the 120-seat body voting in favor of expelling the Communist legislator. Nearly all the Knesset coalition members from the right-wing parties – the Likud, Religious Zionist Party, and Otzma Yehudit – supported the impeachment. Far-right Yisrael Beytenu party, a member of the previous government and current opposition party but a right-wing party on issues of national security, unanimously approved the motion. Members of the haredi (ultraorthodox) parties also voted in favor.

In addition, in its sitting on Monday, the Knesset Plenum voted down a no-confidence motion that was submitted by parliamentary group Hadash-Ta’al, entitled “The Government’s failure in dealing with the cost of living,” was supported by 33 Members of Knesset, without opposing votes. The motion did not receive the requisite majority, and consequently, were not accepted.​

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=31616