A Knesset proposal to remove Ayman Odeh, leader of the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al Party, failed to pass on Monday night, with only 73 out of the required 90 lawmakers voting in favor of the motion.
Fifteen Knesset members voted against the proposal and multiple opposition MKs boycotted the vote, Israel’s parliament announced.
Among those who opposed Odeh’s impeachment were MKs of the far-left The Democrats Party, Hadash-Ta’al and the Islamist Ra’am Party.
The United Torah Judaism Party’s seven lawmakers, who quit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and coalition on Monday night, boycotted the vote, as did all eight members of Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party and 18 out of Yesh Atid’s 23 MKs.
Ahead of the vote, coalition whip and chairman of the Knesset House committee Ofir Katz (Likud) said Odeh had “no place in the Israeli Knesset” after he lumped together hostages and terrorists.
“Anyone who is able to compare children, women and the elderly who were kidnapped from their homes, raped and murdered with despicable murderous terrorists has no place in the Israeli Knesset,” stated Katz.
“This man always sides with evil,” the coalition whip continued, adding: “Since Oct. 7 [2023], Odeh has not been able to say this simple truth once—that Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organizations.”
In his speech before the vote, Odeh declared he would “not take back a single sentence, word or letter” of his remarks against the Jewish state.
After the measure failed to achieve the required supermajority in the Knesset, Odeh stated that “the fascists failed” in an English post on X.
“They tried to silence us, but our voices were louder,” he said. “We will continue to stand tall against fascism, against the war of annihilation, and against the occupation. We will stand tall. And we shall overcome.”
The Knesset House Committee voted overwhelmingly on June 30 to recommend Odeh’s removal, with opposition lawmakers Oded Forer (Yisrael Beiteinu) and Pnina Tamano-Shata (Blue and White) voting in favor alongside the 11 coalition representatives on the committee.
The impeachment request was submitted after Odeh made a statement that appeared to draw a parallel between the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel.
The January remarks, which implied that Israelis and Palestinians both suffer under a “yoke of oppression,” sparked outrage among the coalition, which accused him of legitimizing Arab terror attacks.
The Knesset has never successfully removed a lawmaker, which requires a 90-lawmaker majority in the 120-member parliament and is subject to judicial review by the Supreme Court sitting as the High Court of Justice.
