Odeh says effort to impeach him part of attempt to silence Arab Israelis

Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ayman Odeh arrives to speak to dozens of demonstrators protesting his impeachment hearing in the Knesset House Committee, saying that its part of a wide effort to silence Arab Israelis.

Protesters hold giant red flags with the hammer and sickle logo alongside signs in Hebrew and Arabic declaring their support for the left-wing Arab lawmaker.

They are demonstrating as the committee debates whether to hold a plenum vote to impeach Odeh over a January statement he made celebrating the release of both hostages and Palestinian security prisoners during the Israel-Hamas truce last winter.

“We stand firm, why do I say this? Because if — God forbid, I go back on [on my words], it will be a severe hit to Arab citizens and the democratic arena… What will soon happen to Aida Touma-Suleiman, what will soon happen to Ahmed Tibi?” he asks, referring to his fellow Arab legislators.

He asks what “the real difference” is between the steps to impeach him and efforts to penalize Arab Israeli university students over their social media posts, a frequent occurrence in the first few months of the Gaza war following October 7 as many were accused of supporting the massacre.

“There is only one difference: I am a public representative,” he says. “If I go back [on my words], I will be hurting my constituency, I will be helping them bring back the mentality of the Military Government.” He is referring to the system of martial law imposed on Israel’s Arab citizens from 1948 to 1966.

“Under the cover of this war, they want to bring us backwards, to hurt freedom of expression that we over the course of many years struggled to expand,” he charges.