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Likud MK launches initiative to expel Arab lawmaker for ‘supporting terrorism’

Ayman Odeh's "outrageous" comparison between the hostages in Gaza and Palestinian security prisoners in Israel "clearly constitute support for terrorism," said Likud MK Avichai Boaron.

Joint Arab List member Ayman Odeh speaks during a conference at Tel Aviv University on March 10, 2019. Photo by Flash90.
Joint Arab List member Ayman Odeh speaks during a conference at Tel Aviv University on March 10, 2019. Photo by Flash90.

Likud Knesset member Avichai Boaron informed Knesset speaker Amir Ohana on Monday that he was working to collect signatures from 70 lawmakers to start the process of expelling Ayman Odeh, who leads the far-left Arab-Jewish Hadash Party.

The attempt to oust Odeh, which also needs approval from a Knesset committee and 90 votes out of 120 in the plenum to pass, came after the Arab MK on Sunday welcomed the release of both Israeli hostages and Palestinian terrorists, prompting rebuke from across Jerusalem’s political spectrum.

“During a special and unifying moment for the people of Israel, Odeh chose to make an outrageous comparison between the return of the hostages and the release of the murderers and terrorists. His words clearly constitute support for terrorism,” Boaron’s statement read.

During the first phase of a ceasefire agreement that went into effect on Sunday, Israel has agreed to release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including murderers with Jewish blood on their hands, in exchange for 33 hostages, primarily civilians, not all of whom are believed to be alive.

After the return of the first three hostages on Sunday night, Odeh stated he was “happy about the release of the hostages and prisoners.”

“From here we must free both peoples from the yoke of occupation,” wrote Odeh, whose faction is part of the left-wing Hadah-Ta’al Party.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, whose Yesh Atid Party holds 23 seats in the Knesset, on Monday signaled support for ousting Odeh.

“There are three people who should not be in the Knesset: Ofer Cassif, Ayman Odeh and Itamar Ben-Gvir,” Lapid stated at a faction meeting.

Ben-Gvir, who leads the right-wing Otzma Yehudit Party, until recently served as Israel’s national security minister, while Cassif is the lone Jewish lawmaker for Hadash-Ta’al and has been suspended from the Knesset until May due to anti-Israel incitement.

A spokesperson for Lapid’s office did not immediately respond to a JNS request for comment on whether he would back Boaron’s initiative.

The Knesset has never before voted to remove a fellow lawmaker over charges of “support for an armed struggle by an enemy state, or a terrorist organization against the State of Israel.”

Last year, an attempt to impeach Cassif over his public support for the charges of genocide that South Africa lodged against the Jewish state at the International Court of Justice failed after only 85 MKs voted to expel him.

Lawmakers from Lapid’s Yesh Atid and Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party, which at the time was part of the Jewish state’s wartime coalition, refused to back the initiative by Oded Forer (Yisrael Beiteinu Party).

In November, Odeh was ejected from the Knesset plenum after accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being a “serial killer of peace.”

Odeh in 2022 refused to condemn Iranian-backed Hezbollah as a terror group during a Channel 13 News interview, instead denouncing the Israeli “occupation” as the chief source of terrorism in the region.

That same year, Odeh also refused to be pictured in front of the Jewish state’s official seal and flags, breaking with tradition for lawmakers ahead of the parliament’s inauguration.

Seven years earlier, the Arab Israeli leader expressed support for stonings during the 1987-1993 Intifada, claiming that this form of terrorism was “fully justified” because of the “occupation.” He added, “I cannot tell the nation how to struggle, where and which target to throw the rock. I do not put red lines on the Arab Palestinian nation.”

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