Israel’s Parliament Is Silencing Its Palestinian Voices
On Monday, Israel’s parliament will vote on expelling left-wing legislator Ayman Odeh because he criticized the occupation. The far-right government and even parts of the centrist opposition are crushing what’s left of Israeli democracy.
Member of the Knesset Ayman Odeh gestures as he speaks during a joint Israeli-Arab demonstration. (Eyal Warshavsky / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images)
Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government have a problem. True, Western leaders are still supporting the campaign of destruction and ethnic cleansing in Gaza — as well as expansionist wars such as the recent twelve-day conflict with Iran. Yet ahead of the Israeli elections expected next year, Netanyahu and his allies aren’t leading the polls.
The October 7 debacle, preceded by government attempts to dismantle the judiciary, has deeply damaged the far right’s standing in Israeli public opinion. Even the war with Iran, which most Israelis viewed as a successful campaign, failed to significantly shift the country’s electoral landscape.
A poll conducted on June 24 by Channel 12 news, one day after the hostilities with Iran ended, forecasts that the governing coalition will secure just forty-nine out of 120 seats in the next election. While Netanyahu’s own standing within his bloc improved, the coalition as a whole remains far from a majority.
This precarious position has led the far right to seek undemocratic ways to retain power. Their main target is the Palestinian representatives in the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) and the anti-occupation left. Without us — the ten to fifteen seats representing the Palestinian minority — the far right could guarantee itself a structural majority.
This reality drives the coalition to accelerate long-standing moves to push Arab lawmakers out of the political arena. These efforts include legislative and procedural maneuvers in the Knesset, incitement campaigns, structural discrimination in access to polling stations in Arab communities, and plans for police intimidation on Election Day.
This creeping process, shrouded in the fog of war, threatens to entrench Netanyahu’s catastrophic policies and eliminate what little remains of democratic space in Israel.
New Escalation
Next week, this campaign will reach a new peak, with the possibility that the Knesset may expel my colleague, MK (Member of the Israeli Knesset) Ayman Odeh, from his position. Two weeks ago, the House Committee voted for his disqualification. Odeh is the chairman of the left-wing Hadash-Ta’al list.
Since 2016, the Knesset has permitted, through legislation, the expulsion of an MK by their peers. After the House Committee’s approval, the Knesset plenum will vote on his expulsion this coming Monday, requiring a ninety-vote supermajority (out of 120). Such a procedure may be used to expel parliamentarians accused of support for terrorism, incitement to racism, or rejection of Israel’s “Jewish and democratic” character. Predictably, this mechanism has never been used against right-wing racist or openly genocidal MKs; instead it targets Palestinian and left-wing lawmakers, who form a small minority in the Knesset.
The evidence cited for Odeh’s expulsion? A post he made on X during the early days of the Gaza cease-fire in early 2025: “I am happy about the release of the hostages and the prisoners. From here we need to free both peoples from the burden of occupation. Because we were all born free.” The outrage stemmed from the mere fact that Odeh mentioned hostages and Palestinian prisoners in the same breath.
His basic humanistic message — recognizing both Palestinians and Israelis as people — has become taboo in Israel. The semijudicial House Committee hearing became a platform for right-wing MKs to spew vitriol. MK Osher Shekalim of Netanyahu’s Likud party declared, “In other places you’d be hanged for this or put in front of a firing squad,” insinuating that Odeh deserved execution. Coalition leader Ofir Katz, also from Likud, called him “the eighth front,” referring to Israel’s multifront war, and likening Palestinian citizens of Israel to an internal enemy.
This is not an isolated case. Last year, my colleague Ofer Cassif faced a similar hearing for signing a petition that accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Though his expulsion fell short of the ninety-vote threshold (with eighty-six votes), many centrist opposition members, who see themselves as a liberal alternative to Netanyahu, supported the move.
Other sanctions, short of expulsion, also limit our work. Cassif was later banned from speaking in the Knesset for eight months. I was banned for two months myself last year. Just last week, MK Ahmad Tibi and I received shorter bans, ranging from several days to two weeks. The reason: stating that Israel was committing war crimes and massacres — claims backed by extensive evidence and even echoed by former prime minister Ehud Olmert and many retired generals.
But the most dangerous threat lies in disqualifying candidates before the next election. A bill introduced by Katz and passed in preliminary reading would make it far easier to ban Arab and leftist candidates — and potentially Hadash as a party — from running. The bill would empower the Central Elections Committee, already dominated by right-wingers, to disqualify us without requiring serious evidence.
If passed, this could decimate voter turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel, who would see it as a statement that they are no longer part of Israel’s democratic process. This would pave the way for unchallenged rule by a coalition of far-right extremists and religious zealots.
Silencing the Only Voice for Peace
This is the reality we in Hadash — a Jewish-Arab socialist party that has served in the Knesset since 1948 — have come to expect since October 7. We are, sadly, the only political force in Israel still able to see the perspective of both peoples. Our unique position as Palestinian citizens of Israel allows us to see and articulate the suffering of both sides.
With the collapse of the Zionist left, we are the only forces in parliament opposing the occupation and the war of destruction in Gaza. We are the only ones who speak about the suffering in Gaza, who question the military logic of the Israeli government, and who advocate diplomacy over force. Since October 7, we have consistently condemned the killing of civilians and called for restraint, for negotiation, and for peace.
For this, we are branded as traitors and terrorists — not only by the ruling coalition, but by much of the so-called centrist opposition.
This Is About Delegitimization
This campaign is not just about incitement — it is about delegitimizing political participation by Palestinian citizens of Israel. By targeting our voices, the government aims to cement its dominance and silence all dissent.
Amid the genocide in Gaza and Israeli expansionism, why should the world care about these internal attempts to disqualify us? Because in the long run, real change in Israel’s policies — the end of occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and erasure of Palestinian identity — can only come from pressure from both outside and inside.
The international community must act through arms embargoes, trade restrictions, and recognition of a Palestinian state. But internal resistance is equally vital. It must come from what remains of the Israeli left and the Palestinian citizens of Israel.
We are proof that a different path is possible — a path where Jews and Arabs, Palestinians and Israelis, live in peace and security. To preserve this possibility, efforts to silence and disqualify us must be stopped. The international community shares in that responsibility and should act now to stop this dangerous attempt.