With her Joint Arab List projected to make historic gains in Tuesday’s elections, MK Hanin Zoabi told Lebanese media Monday that Arab Knesset members are part of the “Palestinian national project,” and not Israeli politics.
The firebrand Balad party lawmaker told Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen TV that Israel wants Arab MKs, “but [only] those who accepted Israeliness or integrated in the Zionist parties.”
“Despite this we represent the Palestinian national project,” she said.
Zoabi said that one of the means the Arab parties will use to increase their influence will be in various Knesset committees, particularly the Internal Affairs committee. “There our power will grow.”
“I don’t consider myself just a member of Knesset,” she told the news outlet. “We are part of the national project. We don’t rely on any Israeli government to recognize our rights.”
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Last month the Supreme Court overturned a Knesset decision to disqualify Zoabi from participating in the upcoming general elections because of her alleged support for Hamas and opposition to Israel’s identity as a Jewish state.
She is currently running in the seventh slot on the Joint Arab List — a merger of the Knesset’s former Arab parties plus the Arab-Jewish party Hadash — which is predicted to garner some 13 seats in Tuesday’s elections.
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