Arab MKs threaten to quit if Israel passes bill to expel them

The head of the Joint Arab List Ayman Odeh yesterday warned that he and other Palestinian members of the Israeli Knesset may resign if a controversial bill allowing the Knesset to expel lawmakers is passed next week, Ma’an reported.

The draft bill, which was approved by the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee yesterday, could see lawmakers suspended from their duties if voted for by 90 MKs – three quarters of Israel’s lawmakers.

Palestinian MKs slammed the bill, which they say is directed solely against them.

The bill was submitted to the constitutional committee after the Knesset’s Ethics Committee suspended MKs Hanin Zoabi, Basel Ghattas and Jamal Zahalqa from their duties after they visited the families of Palestinians who were killed by Israelis forces during the Jerusalem Intifada.

Odeh said the Knesset was “plotting” against Palestinian citizens of Israel, and if the bill was passed into law, Palestinian MKs would “quit the Knesset and leave it to the Jews alone.”

Palestinian MK Ahmad Tibi reiterated Odeh’s threat that the entire Joint List could “quit” if the Knesset passed the bill, which he said was a legislative equivalent of the right-wing slogan “death to Arabs”.

Tibi added that “Arab MKs have not caused bloodshed,” as opposed to “those whose hands are stained with blood and are openly proud of that fact,” referring specifically to the right-wing Jewish Home’s Naftali Bennet, who has in the past boasted about killing Palestinians.