Arab Israeli MK warns judicial coup could disqualify Arab parties from Knesset elections

MK Ahmad Tibi speaks at the Haifa University conference, 13 May 2025

Anat Kamm, Ran Shimoni, Sheren Falah Saab, Aluf Benn and Noa Landau report in Haaretz on 14 May 2025:

The judicial coup advanced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government may result in Arab parties being unable to run in future elections, Israeli MK Mansour Abbas warned on Tuesday at the Third Haifa Conference on Arab Politics and Society in Israel, co-organized by Haaretz.

According to Abbas, “No one guarantees us that a ‘new High Court of Justice’ won’t allow [the government] to disqualify Arab parties, but our participation in the elections as citizens shouldn’t depend on whether there’s a declaration about joining the coalition.”

The United Arab List, chaired by Abbas, joined Naftali Bennett’s and Yair Lapid’s Change Coalition in June 2021, making it the first Arab party to enter the government in decades.  “Mark my words: If I am personally disqualified, I’ll join one of the existing parties and become its activist. We must not give them the prize of robbing Arab citizens of their political power,” Abbas said.

“The only way to save our precious homeland is a courageous political partnership between the democratic camp and the Arab parties,” said Dr. Nasreen Hadad Haj-Yahya, vice president of the New Israel Fund, which also co-organized the conference.

Leaders of the blocs opposing Netanyahu’s government “must have the courage to say this out loud,” she said, “because democracy is measured, first and foremost, by its treatment of minorities.”  According to her, “This is something Jewish people know better than any other nation in history. We need brave leadership with a clear stance: No Arabs – no democracy.”

Haj-Yahya added that it is impossible to separate Israel’s Arab community from the Gaza war. “I have 500 relatives in Gaza. People who have lost their homes, who are struggling to survive,” she said. “At the same time, I am also part of Israeli society, which has experienced immense trauma.

“It’s customary to say every Knesset is worse than the one before it, but this Knesset is something else entirely,” said MK Ahmad Tibi, one of the country’s longest-serving parliamentarians.  According to Tibi, “It’s a shame this Knesset works every day because every day they break another record. Every week, there are two or three fascist laws. They’re competing over who’s more Kahanist.”

Democrats MK Naama Lazimi at the Haifa University conference, 13 May 2025

He continued, “There are protesters outside the Knesset right now and I don’t hear them mention the destruction of Gaza’s medical infrastructure, missiles fired into hospitals. The Israeli left expects us to rally around the Shin Bet chief.  “That’s the left’s flag project? You want us to come protest for Shin Bet? It is the very organization immortalizing the occupation.”

Speaking to Haaretz Editor-in-Chief Aluf Benn, Democrats Chairman Yair Golan said that “What we’re seeing in Gaza today is an extraordinary tragedy. The Israeli government refuses to channel our profound military achievements into a diplomatic process that would fortify Israel’s security.”  Golan called on IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir to “serve the interests of the State of Israel and not the political whims and corruption running this government.” Zamir should “stand firm and refuse to risk IDF soldiers’ lives for nothing,” said Golan.

The “two-state solution is the right solution for Israel, nationally and in terms of security. But Israel is traumatized at the moment and it’s not going to happen tomorrow morning,” he said. “I’m a Zionist, and whoever wants a Jewish national home must ensure a state with a solid Jewish majority. Annexation would kill that.”

Freedom of speech “has to be absolute,” said Prof. Mouna Maroun, the rector of the University of Haifa, another conference co-organizer.  “We must allow criticism and freedom of expression. But the criticism cannot just be about the study material but society as a whole.”

There is a “hierarchy in Israel,” said MK Ayman Odeh, who chairs the Jewish-Arab party Hadash.  “Whoever supports Jewish supremacy is legitimate. Whoever supports equality is illegitimate. They once banned Kahane. They kicked him out of the window and he walked right back through the door.” The Arab community can prevent the Israeli right – led by Netanyahu, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – from forming the next government, Odeh said.  “If it’s a government that wants us to be subjects, we won’t support it.”  When the Arab community wants to protest against the government’s judicial overhaul, “We are asked not to talk about the occupation,” Odeh said. “I won’t be your token Arab.”

Everything “did change after October 7,” said Balad Chairman Sami Abou Shehadeh. “The war proved that Palestinian political activism in Israel is very weak.”  He continued, “They talk about the hostages. Dozens of citizens are detained without trial. Administrative detention [detention without trial] is kidnapping. The state takes its citizens hostage, and no one opposes it other than the Arab parties. You’re liberals? Then talk about this violation of personal freedom.”

Coexistence “is about real mutual recognition of rights, not about cynical talk of ‘unity.’ Arab-Jewish relations have reached an unprecedented low,” said Democrats MK Naama Lazimi.  “I once held a discussion on informal education in the Arab community, and people walked up to me and said they were excited a Jewish MK was dealing with it,” she said.

“I cringed in shame, and it’s exactly about that. If we don’t actually deal with living together, then it’s all empty words and we’ve seen where they’ve led us.”

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