Israel's Knesset votes to advance impeachment of Arab lawmaker Ayman Odeh

Middle East Eye

7 days ago

Israel's Knesset House Committee voted to advance the impeachment of prominent Arab lawmaker Ayman Odeh on Monday, over comments he made earlier this year which were perceived as being pro-Palestinian and against the war on Gaza.
Lawmakers from both the ruling coalition and opposition Yesh Atid and National Unity parties voted 14-2 in favour of impeachment, while two Knesset members from the Palestinian Ra'am and Ta'al parties opposed the move.
Odeh had earned the scorn of several Israeli lawmakers earlier this year when he welcomed a long-awaited ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
"I am happy about the release of the hostages and prisoners. From here, both peoples must be freed from the yoke of the occupation. We were all born free," Odeh wrote on 19 January after Hamas released three Israeli women after 471 days in captivity.
Then last month, Odeh drew further criticism after a speech he gave during an anti-war demonstration in Haifa.
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"After more than 600 days, there is a majority among the two people that says: 'I wish these days hadn't happened'," he said.
"This is a historic loss for the right-wing ideology that was defeated in Gaza. Gaza won, and Gaza will win," Odeh added.
Following Monday's vote, Odeh, who also serves as the head of the Hadash-Ta'al party, accused the Israeli opposition of crossing a "red line" by joining ranks with coalition government members and voting for his impeachment.
'There is a clear campaign of incitement against Ayman Odeh. It was a field trial, and unfortunately, members of the opposition joined in'
- Aida Touma-Sliman, Hadash-Ta'al
"Instead of fighting the Kahanist government, it [the opposition] collaborated with it in crushing the democratic space. Some of them hate us more than they love democracy," Odeh said.
"They want to subdue the judicial system, silence critical voices, and turn Israel into a messianic dictatorship. Today it's me - tomorrow it's you. Anyone who dares to oppose will be next in line," Odeh added, as he called on the opposition to "wake up".
Aida Touma-Sliman, an Arab politician from the Hadash-Ta'al party, also condemned the opposition for backing impeachment, telling Middle East Eye that "everyone who was present at the debate understood where the wind was blowing".
"There is a clear campaign of incitement against Ayman Odeh. It was a field trial, and unfortunately, members of the opposition joined in," she said.
"I can't understand the logic. If you want to present yourself as a visionary opposition, why do you support impeachment?
"If the opposition has any real hope for a change, it's the partnership with us. We can't make a change alone, but without us a change can't be made," she added.
The final decision now rests with the Knesset Plenum, where a majority of 90 lawmakers are required to vote in favour of removing Odeh from parliament.
'Odeh is our eighth front'
Speaking to reporters after the vote, Avigdor Lieberman, an opposition lawmaker who nearly a decade ago said there were "no innocent people" in Gaza, said he hoped all 90 lawmakers would vote to impeach Odeh.
"He [Odeh] can sit in the Hamas parliament in Gaza, or with the Houthis, but he has nothing to do in the Israeli Knesset," Lieberman said.
His position was echoed by Ofir Katz, a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and chairman of the committee, who accused Odeh of being the eighth front in Israel's war.
"While the soldiers are fighting on seven fronts, we have to clear the eighth front, and Ayman Odeh is our eighth front," Katz said in the debate.
Since the 7 October attacks on southern Israel, the Israeli government has repeatedly claimed that it is fighting a war on seven fronts, having to combat Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Palestinians in the West Bank, the Houthi movement in Yemen, Syria's new leaders, Shia militias in Iraq, and the Iranian government and its religious establishment.
Meanwhile last week, Likud lawmaker Osher Shekalim, who has repeatedly advocated for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza, said that in any other country Odeh would have faced a "firing squad".
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Speaking to reporters, Sagit Ofek, the Knesset's legal adviser, also condemned Odeh but said that it was "doubtful" whether his remarks met the threshold of expressing "support for an armed struggle by a terrorist organisation".
Still, Hassan Jabareen, an attorney who represented Odeh before the committee, derided the vote saying it was "not a legal process but a campaign of political persecution."
'This is part of a broader fascist and racist campaign targeting Arab political parties and their representatives," Jabreen said.
"This process signals what is likely to come in the upcoming elections: a fierce right-wing assault on all Arab political parties and their representatives," Jabareen added.
Meanwhile, Touma-Sliman said that the attempts to silence criticial Palestinian voices in Israel was part of Israel's long-standing aim of crushing Palestinian activism
"Every time they try to silence us, we get stronger," she said.
"The campaign of dehumanisation and delegitimisation of the Palestinians does not end at the Green Line," she said referring to the demarcation line which is supposed to separate Israel from the occupied West Bank.
"The attempt to define us as an enemy is part of their attempt to have fewer Palestinians here."
Palestinian citizens of Israel comprise about 20 percent of the country's 9.7 million population. They are the descendants of the native population, which was violently displaced by Zionist militias during the creation of Israel in 1948.
For decades, they have suffered under discriminatory laws and practices imposed by the Israeli state.