Yisrael Beytenu calls on ‘all Zionist factions’ to vote for expulsion of Hadash-Ta’al’s Odeh

Avigdor Liberman’s hawkish Yisrael Beytenu party calls on “all Zionist factions from the coalition and the opposition” to vote in favor of the expulsion of Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ayman Odeh in the Knesset today.

“Do not repeat the mistake you made in voting to dismiss [complaints against] Ofer Cassif. There is no reason for Israeli citizens to continue to fund salaries of terror supporters,” the party states, referring to a failed 2024 effort to expel a Hadash-Ta’al lawmaker who expressed public support for South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

“Yisrael Beytenu will vote in favor of his dismissal and expects all Zionist parties to do the same.”

The Knesset is scheduled to vote this afternoon on whether to eject Odeh. The vote requires a supermajority of 90 out of 120 to pass. Last month the Knesset House Committee approved lawmakers’ statutory 70-signature petition, which included at least 10 signatures from the opposition.

The petition was put forth in January, when Odeh said he was “happy for the release of hostages and prisoners” as part of the Gaza truce that was signed that month. The petition clinched the required number of signatures after Odeh said at an anti-war protest in Haifa in May that “Gaza has won and Gaza will win.”

In order for the motion to pass, all of the coalition lawmakers and 22 opposition MKs would need to vote in favor.

Shas has indicated that it will vote in favor while Opposition Leader Yair Lapid has said he will allow his MKs to vote their consciences. Addressing his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting, Lapid on Monday stated that “if the coalition doesn’t bring its members [the Haredim], I won’t show up.”

United Torah Judaism has not yet said how it will vote on the issue.