Israel: Law Passed Allowing Expulsion of Knesset Members

The Knesset, Israel's parliament, has passed a law for the first time in its 67-year history that could lead to the expulsion of elected representatives. This law was approved shortly after midnight on Tuesday, July 29, during a tense session marked by shouting and intense struggles, attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 62 representatives from coalition parties voted in favor of the proposed bill, while 47 opposition members were unable to confront Netanyahu's allies; a few remaining representatives abstained. The right-wing 'Jewish Home' party, an ally of the government, introduced this bill. The law states that a representative who incites 'racism' or supports 'armed operations against Israel' can be expelled with the approval of 90 out of 120 Knesset members. Although the law applies to all Jewish and Arab representatives, Arab representatives and some opposition leaders have stated that this bill targets the expulsion of Arab representatives. Israeli media have dubbed this law the 'Hanineh Zoabi Law'; Ms. Zoabi is an Arab Knesset member whose actions and speeches consistently provoke severe criticism among right-wing public opinion in Israel. Physical attacks in public and insults in Israeli media against Arab representatives, especially Ms. Zoabi, are common, but due to parliamentary immunity, they have remained members of the Knesset. The law that could lead to the expulsion of Arab representatives was passed just two weeks after Netanyahu stated that Hanineh Zoabi had 'crossed all red lines.' Two weeks ago, when a reconciliation plan between Israel and Turkey was discussed in the Knesset, Ms. Zoabi stated that Israel apologized to Turkey for the killing of Turkish citizens, indicating that Israel acknowledges its soldiers killed passengers of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara. During the confrontation on the Mavi Marmara, 9 passengers were killed, and dozens were injured; several years later, another injured person also died. Israel apologized for the reconciliation with Turkey and is paying $21 million in compensation. Last week, the right-wing majority in the Knesset also passed a law to 'clarify' the foreign funding sources of NGOs, which the opposition called another attempt by the government to suppress dissenting voices. The international community, especially the European Union, which funds some activities of these NGOs, has criticized this new law. Meanwhile, according to Israeli media, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman summoned the army radio commander on Wednesday, July 30, to protest the broadcast of a radio program about the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, the late Palestinian poet. Miri Regev, Israel's Minister of Culture and a member of the Likud party, also strongly criticized the broadcast of this program from the army's radio station. On Tuesday, July 29, the army radio aired a program from a series of academic lectures at the country's Open University about the effects of poetry from the 1970s on the political atmosphere, which included references to several poems by Mahmoud Darwish and was broadcast with the voice of the late poet. Mahmoud Darwish, an Arab from 1948 from the Galilee region, passed away eight years ago in Texas, USA. Recently, cultural and artistic figures in Israel have raised many complaints that the Netanyahu government is attempting to create a climate of censorship in a country that has always considered itself 'the only democracy in the Middle East.'