Meet the Knesset Members from the Joint List

Netanyahu's Fear Mongering Attack on Palestinians - Rooted in Zionism

Palestinian citizens of Israel - and their political parties - agreed on a most basic principle: there should be equality under law and in practice between them and Israeli-Jews. Everything else, the peace process, the two state solution, could fall to the side. Netanyahu's demographic fear-mongering is rooted in the foundation of the Zionist project in Palestine and demographic engineering to ensure political power remains in the hands of one ethno-religious group.

Allison Deger; Yousef Munayyer

March 21, 2015

Meet the Knesset Members from the Joint List

By Allison Deger

March 21, 2015
Mondoweiss

Something has changed inside Israel for its Palestinian citizens. The hard data is revealing: voter turnout jumped by ten-percent from the last election and in the Joint Arab List's party leader's home district it was nearly an unheard of 80-percent. Civic engagement is happening, but that is not the only turn. The joint list is full of fresh faces with seven first time Knesset members, and two women, five communists, two national democrats, two Islamists, one Christian and one Israeli-Jew.

Party leader Ayman Odeh, 40, embodies most the directional shift inside of the bloc. He uses a civil rights framework, noted for quoting Martin Luther King Jr. while campaigning, telling voters he sees the party as a vehicle to mobilize mass non-violent civil disobedience. In Haifa days before the election Odeh said he wanted to organize an equal rights march of thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel and Jewish-Israelis in one year's time.

Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint Arab List, at campaign headquarters in Nazareth, Israel. (Photo: Allison Deger) - See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/03/jerusalem-netanyahu-forms#sthash.ZJoVFu7i.dpuf

For supporters, this isn't fluff. Odeh's emphasis on partnership-not just coexistence with Jewish-Israelis-is widely endorsed. He has a long history in politics. He held his first position in public office in Haifa's city council at the age of 23 as a member of Israel's Jewish-Arab communist party, Hadash. There he fought for student tax breaks and quickly rose up the political ranks to become Hadash's chairman while still in his 30s.

At first glance the Joint Arab List is a band of four parties that were coerced to run on a single ticket after the Israeli election threshold was increased, an obstacle propelled by right-wing groups. The perception was hardliners wanted Arab parties out of Knesset. The way they could achieve this was to force an ultimatum: Arab political groups, and one mixed party, would have to unite in a country where political divisions can be lethal to a faction's survival.

Israeli Arab political leaders (front row from L to R) Aida Tuma, Masud Ghanayem, Ayman Odeh, Ahmad Tibi, Jamal Zahalka pose for a photo holding placards bearing text in Arabic meaning ‘Go to vote for the Joint List, for a new tomorrow on March 17′ in Nazareth, Feb. 24, 2015. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images)

The candidates could have kept their old political divides alive, running on two lists instead of one, and still made it into Knesset. The primary discords are between the Islamist and communist, the two largest factions inside of the bloc. They differ in areas of labor and women's rights. Do you support the separation of religion and state, the secular parties asked the Islamic group during a six-week period where they hashed out their disagreements? It was a genuine coming to terms. "Yes," they said, "Because we don't want to live in a Jewish state," relayed Knesset-elect and first time politician Aida Touma-Suleiman while still on the campaign trail at an event in Tel Aviv in early March. Touma-Suleiman is a celebrated feminist. Though she has been a member of the communist party for over two decades, this will be her first time in public office.

An Israeli Arab walks past a campaign poster showing Israeli-Arab candidates who are members of a Joint List of Arab parties (from L to R), Ahmad Tibi, Jamal Zahalka, Masud Ghanayem and Ayman Odeh, March 8, 2015. (photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images)

By sitting together, over and over, to build a united front, Arab parties made pivotal decisions in the lead up to announcing their candidates. Foremost they realized as Palestinian citizens of Israel they all agree on one most basic principle: there should be equality under law and in practice between them and Israeli-Jews. Everything else, the peace process, the two state solution, polygamy could fall to the side. Their constituents see the internal resolutions and divisions as a new way forward, where diversity remains intact while pursuing equal rights with the power of Israel's newly-minted third largest political party.

Meet the next Knesset members from the Joint Arab List:

Ayman Odeh (1) - Hadash
Many supporters have said Odeh represents "a new way forward" for Arab parties in Israel. He is deeply influenced by Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights struggle in the U.S., along with his upbringing in a mixed Jewish-Arab community. Odeh believes in securing the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel by working with Jewish-Israeli partners. In this election season he became well known amongst Israelis after a televised debate with Avigdor Liberman who said Odeh should not be allowed to speak in Israel, and should go to the West Bank.

Masud Ghnaim (2) - United Arab List
Ghnaim is a current Knesset member from an Islamic party and a teacher by profession. He has a degree in middle eastern history from the University of Haifa. He previously served on the city council of his home town Sakhnin, in northern Israel.

Dr. Jamal Zahalka (3) - Balad
Zahalka is has been a member of Knesset since 2003. He is the leader of the national democratic party, Balad. He assumed the chariman position after former head Azmi Bishara went into exile.

Dr. Ahmed Tibi (4) - Ta'al
Out of all of the joint list's Knesset members, Tibi has the longest history inside of Israel's parliament. He has served since 1999 and is the co-founder of Ta'al and Islamic party. He is a vocal advocate for the Palestinian right of return for refugees. Before entering politics Tibi was a gynecologist.

Aida Touma- Suleiman (5) - Hadash
Touma-Suleiman has been a member of Hadash for decades and this will be her first time in public office. She is the founder of the feminist organization Women Against Violence and is the editor-in-chief of al-Ittihad, an Arabic daily newspaper published in Israel.

Abd al-Hakim Hajj Yahya (6) - United Arab List
Hajj Yahya is an engineer by training and this will be his first time as a member of Knesset.

Haneen Zoabi (7) - Balad
Zoabi is perhaps the most well-known Palestinian citizen of Israel serving in Knesset. She has held this position since 2009 and during her term in public service she has been attacked while speaking on the Knesset floor, and holds the title of the Knesset member with the longest suspension from office in Israel's history. During election season, she was physically assaulted while speaking at a debate, along with a Jewish-Israeli spokesperson for the Joint List. Prior to entering politics Zoabi was a journalist.

Dov Khenin (8) - Hadash
Khenin is the Joint Arab List's only Jewish-Israeli member to be elected into Knesset. He is a veteran member of Knesset, serving since 2006. Khenin is a political scientist with a PhD from Hebrew University.

Taleb Abu Arar (9) - United Arab List
Abu Arar is a prominent Bedouin politician and attorney. He first entered Knesset in 2013. Before, Abu Arar was the head of a local council in the Negev.

Dr. Yousef Jabarin (10) - Hadash
Jabarin is from Umm el-Fahm, a village in northern Israel that is regarded as a political stronghold for Palestinian citizens of Israel. He hold a PhD in law with a specialty in human rights. This will be his first term in Knesset.

Dr. Basel Ghattas (11) - Balad
Ghattas is a seasoned political figure. He co-founded the Balad party with his cousin Azmi Bishara in 1995, although he did not enter Knesset until 2013. He holds a PhD in engineering from Technion, and is of a Christian background.

Osama Saadi (12) - Ta'al
Saadi is a human rights lawyer known for working on issues relating to Palestinian prisoners. This will be his first term in Knesset.

Abdullah Abu Marouf (13) - Hadash
Abu Marouf is the only Druze member of Joint Arab List to enter Knesset. He is the founder of the Druze Initiative Committee and works with Physicians for Human Rights, as he is also a urologist.

[Allison Deger is the Assistant Editor of Mondoweiss. Follow her on twitter at @allissoncd.]

What It Feels Like to Be a `Demographic Threat' to Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu's attack on Arab voters was not just an electioneering tactic. Such fear-mongering is rooted in the foundation of the Zionist project in Palestine.

By Yousef Munayyer

March 20, 2015
The Nation

Israeli Labour - As Racist as Likud

There is nothing that Netanyahu's done that Israeli Labour governments haven't done before him

Those with short memories and an even shorter imagination believe that an Israeli Labour Party government will be a break from the Netanyahu government.  This despite the fact that the ILP has supported all the attacks on Gaza.

Now the leader of the ILP, Yitzhak Herzog, has reminded us of exactly what the Israeli Labour Party is like.  Haneen Zoabi, the Balad MK who was suspended from the Knesset because she has a habit of saying what the Zionists don't like or approve of, has been the subject of concerted attempts to prevent her standing for election (yes this is the reality of Zionist democracy).  Up till now the decision of her fellow parliamentarians has always been overturned by the courts but there is no guarantee that the campaign against her won't swing the increasingly right-wing Supreme Court.

Herzog and Livni

Herzog, as the article by Gideon Levy confirms, will now also be supporting the banning of Haneen Zoabi and he will 'balance' this by supporting the banning of an out and out Zionist Nazi.   Note Herzog doesn't even propose that Ayelet Shaked and Moshe Feiglin, who have both called for genocide against the Palestinians, be prevented from standing again.

I also include an article I wrote over 30 years ago for Tribune, 'Begin &Z Sharon have done nothing that Labour hasn't done before them' to remind people of the Israeli Labour Party's record.

Tony Greenstein

Zionist Camp reveals its true, racist face

The party that some hoped would defend Israeli democracy from attacks by the right wing has now joined the assault.

By Gideon Levy | Feb. 8, 2015 | 2:50 AM

Shimon Peres is back, his name is Isaac Herzog. The evil wind of Mapai is also back, it’s called Zionist Camp. Appease, appease, appease everyone; set your sights on the right, only on the right, emulate it, stay away from any courageous step. Sometimes one unfortunate decision is enough to learn how the whole thing works. In the case of Zionist Camp it’s the decision to support the disqualification of MK Haneen Zoabi (Joint List [The Joint Arab election list formed recently. RG]) from running for the Knesset. With a left like this, we don’t need Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman anymore; Likud’s Yariv Levin will do just fine.

The only hope that Zionist Camp had managed to create was that at least it would stop the crushing of democracy by the right wing. People like Herzog, MKs Tzipi Livni, Shelly Yacimovich, Merav Michaeli and Stav Shaffir know a thing or two about the dangers to democracy that lurk here. They also know that democracy’s real test is in its attitude to the Arabs and the radical left. Now this last hope has been dashed.

If Zionist Camp disqualifies Zoabi, a brave, authentic and legitimate candidate who hasn’t hurt a fly and who reflects the views of her voters, the Arabs of Israel and lovers of democracy will know: On this issue too, there is no difference between the right wing and this left wing. After Herzog announced that “in the war on terror there is no difference,” now there’s no difference in the war on “Zoabis.” So what do we have this whole camp for? For Manuel Trajtenberg [the economist identified with the 2011 social protests, now on the Zionist Camp ticket]?

The first thing the Arabs of Israel and their representatives in the Knesset must conclude is: No cooperation with Zionist Camp, not during the election and not after it. No voting for it and no recommending to the president that Herzog form the next government. Herzog signed the divorce decree himself, having already announced the exclusion of Joint List from his government. He has to pay the price.

But in its decision, Zionist Camp proved something much deeper and more significant: In Israel of 2015, Zionism and democracy cannot go hand in hand; there is an inner contradiction, inherent and unavoidable, between contemporary Zionism and the rights of Israel’s Arab minority, and there is of course also a deep contradiction between “Jewish” and “democratic.”

From that point of view, Zionist Camp has made a great contribution to the truth: There is no such thing as “Jewish” and “democratic.” In its decision, Zionist Camp has chosen “Jewish” at the expense of “democratic”: Zionist Camp knows that behind the decision to disqualify Zoabi is the transparent desire to remove all the “Zoabis” from the Knesset. There is no such thing as a democracy, where elected officials are prohibited from criticizing, as Zoabi is accused of doing, a member of their own people for serving in a police force that kills other members of their people.

But a party that has chosen to call itself “Zionist Camp,” spitting in the face of the Arabs, some of whom supported it in the past, cannot but back the disqualification of an individual who threatens the Zionist order and challenges Jewish privileges in a distorted democracy. Zoabi should be disqualified, according to Herzog-Livni, because she endangers the tottering ideological structure on which their camp relies, which offers no solution to the Palestinian problem nor an answer for the Arabs of Israel. This camp knows only how to trick and mislead, in the best of its tradition. Livni wants to reach a settlement, but only to realize her dream of a Jewish state, a nationalist dream in every sense of the word. And Herzog only wants more negotiations, so there will be peace and quiet.

Aware of the slight damage the Zionist Camp could incur, it hastened to “balance” its decision: It will also support disqualification of ultra-right-winger Baruch Marzel. This preposterous balance, so typical, is even worse in its hypocrisy. The serial criminal, the violent, convicted thug is to the Zionist Camp comparable to Zoabi, who has never been convicted of anything. But trust Zionist Camp and the Arab sycophants. Soon enough we’ll certainly see Herzog and Livni touring the Arab communities, eatingknafeh, having photo ops with kafiyyeh-wearers and uttering pithy slogans about democracy, peace and equality.

Gideon Levy tweets at @levy_haaretz