Knesset to hold hearing on impeaching Arab lawmaker who hailed release of ‘hostages and prisoners’

The Knesset House Committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday to discuss the potential impeachment of MK Ayman Odeh, the chairman of the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party, over a statement he made appearing to equate Israeli hostages with Palestinian security prisoners.

Odeh describes the effort to impeach him as “shameless political persecution that is clearly racist.”

“I call on the opposition members of the Knesset: Do not cooperate with this show. Do not be part of this anti-democratic move. Because today it is us and tomorrow it is you,” he says.

The impeachment proceedings are only the latest in a “series of anti-democratic measures that the government is promoting under the auspices of the war: persecuting protesters and opponents of the regime, silencing the free media, and restricting freedom of expression,” Hadash-Ta’al asserts in a statement.

According to the party, the hearing comes on top of a Knesset Ethics Committee decision on Monday to suspend Odeh from the Knesset for two weeks starting on July 7, during which time he will not receive a salary. The Knesset did not release an official announcement of the decision and the chairman of the committee, UTJ MK Moshe Roth, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Arab lawmaker drew outrage from lawmakers across the political spectrum on January 19 after saying that he was “happy for the release of the hostages and prisoners” as part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

“Now we must free both peoples from the yoke of occupation. We were all born free,” Odeh posted on X, as three Israeli women who were kidnapped by terrorists during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre were released from the Gaza Strip after over 15 months in captivity.

Odeh later defended his statement, characterizing the released Palestinian prisoners as minors and insisting that “most of the prisoners released that day were not charged with anything at all.”

Many of those Palestinians released were in administrative detention, a controversial tool used by Israeli security forces exclusively against Arab Israelis and Palestinians, in which they are detained without due process.

While none of those released were charged with murder, several were behind non-deadly terror attacks, including 15-year-old Mahmoud Aliowat, who was convicted of carrying out a shooting in the City of David area of Jerusalem, wounding two people, when he was 13.

According to Basic Law: The Knesset, 90 Knesset members may vote to expel a colleague who expressed support “for an armed struggle” against the State of Israel. Once 70 signatures are collected, the matter is referred to the Knesset House Committee and, if approved there, goes to the plenum for a vote.

An effort to impeach Hadash-Ta’al lawmaker Ofer Cassif over his public support for a South African motion accusing Israel of genocide before the International Court of Justice failed last February when it only garnered 85 votes in the plenum.