2 Likud MKs push move to remove Arab lawmaker for doubting Hamas atrocities

In a rare move, two Likud lawmakers are advancing a petition to remove an Arab lawmaker from the Knesset after she made inflammatory remarks on Sunday.

Likud MKs Osher Shekalim and Hanoch Milwidsky are attempting to sign up fellow lawmakers as part of a parliamentary process to oust Ra’am MK Iman Khatib-Yassin, who on Sunday cast doubt on atrocities committed by Hamas during its October 7 rampage across southern Israel.

Ra’am party head MK Mansour Abbas swiftly asked for Khatib-Yassin’s resignation. She apologized, but has so far made no indication she intends to quit.

Shekalim and Milwidsky are unlikely to be successful.

Forcibly removing a lawmaker requires three steps. First, a letter must be sent to the Knesset speaker co-signed by 70 MKs, including 10 opposition MKs. Next, the speaker must recommend removal to the House Committee, and a supermajority in the House Committee must vote for removal. And finally, 90 out of the Knesset’s 120 MKs must approve the measure in the plenum.

The Knesset passed the MK removal method in 2016, and it later withstood a High Court of Justice challenge.

A similar proposal to oust then-Hadash MK Hanin Zoabi never made it past the first step.