Arab Knesset members are collaborating with officials in the Palestinian Authority to condemn Israel at the UN.
By: United with Israel Staff
Members of Knesset from the Arab Joint List are partnering with Palestinian officials by drafting a United Nations resolution condemning Israel’s recent passage of the nation-state law, which they claim makes non-Jewish Israelis second-class citizens.
Palestinian factions are reportedly taking this move against Israel a step further by requesting Israel’s expulsion from the UN.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended the nation-state law, which defines Israel as the Jewish state and enshrines its unique character while affording equal rights to all citizens of diverse faiths.
The State of Israel “is the nation-state of the Jewish people, with full equal rights for all of its citizens. This is the meaning of the words ‘a Jewish and democratic state,’” he stated.
“What is the meaning of national rights? They define the flag, the national anthem, the language and, of course, the fact that one of the basic goals of the state is the ingathering of exiles of our people and their absorption here in the land of Israel. This is the meaning of the Zionist vision,” he said, adding that there have been proposals from the left “to replace the flag and the anthem in the name of equality… something that undermines the foundation of our existence.”
This is far from the first time that members of the Joint Arab List have taken action against the State of Israel. For example, MK Hanin Zoabi has called IDF soldiers “murderers, and MK Ahmed Tibi has said he misses late arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat, who dedicated his life to fighting Israel both diplomatically and with extreme violence against innocent civilians.
In 2016, MK Jamal Zahalka called on Palestinians to prevent Jews from visiting the Temple Mount holy site “in any way possible.” He and two colleagues – Zoabi and Basel Ghattas – had just returned to the Knesset after a two-month suspension for visiting the families of Palestinian terrorists who attacked and murdered Israelis.
Ghattas was arrested after being caught on video providing convicted Palestinian terrorists in the Ketziot prison in the Negev with cell phones and SIM cards.
In 2015, Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint Arab List, refused to address a meeting of an umbrella body representing 50 American Jewish organizations because the meeting was held at premises shared by the Jewish Agency for Israel and other “Zionist entities.”
In an interview with Army Radio, Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said that there is no way to define this act by the Joint List MKs other than to call it treason.