Knesset speaker slams Joint List for reaction to strike on Islamic Jihad commander

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein criticizes members of the Joint List for their responses to the escalation in Gaza, saying they prove how “irresponsible” it would be to form a coalition based on the party’s support.

“The only voices we heard this morning that didn’t express support for the IDF came from here, from the Knesset. The Joint List were the only ones who came out with a political statement explaining that this was a political decision,” Edelstein tells a US delegation from the Council for a Secure America.

“It’s very disappointing and I think it just makes it more clear how irresponsible all this talk of having a coalition or a government based on the support of the Arab List was, and is,” Edelstein says.

MK Ayman Odeh, who leads the Joint List alliance of predominantly Arab parties, slammed Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning, accusing him of ordering the killing of Islamic Jihad commander Bahu Abu al-Ata for political gain at a time when his grasp on the premiership is the most tenuous in a decade.

Edelstein says the messages heard from the Joint List “make it clear that [our opposition to them] has nothing to do with the ethnic origin of this or that member of Knesset but has all to do with the very basic approach to the security of our citizens.”

— Raoul Wootliff