MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi’s departure will give the opposition a majority of 61 to 59 MKs and could bring about an election in the fall.
https://www.jpost.com-By GIL HOFFMAN
PRIME MINISTER Naftali Bennett sits in the Knesset this week. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid suffered a blow on Thursday afternoon when another Member of Knesset announced that she is leaving their governing coalition.
Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi sent a letter to Bennett and Lapid saying that she no longer saw herself as part of the coalition. She also announced that she would not take her appointment as Israel’s next consul general in Shanghai.
“I entered politics because I saw myself as an emissary of Arab society, which I represent,” Rinawie Zoabi wrote. “Unfortunately over the last few months for narrow political reasons, the heads of the coalition preferred to strengthen their right side. Again and again, the heads of the coalition preferred to take harsh hawkish right-wing steps on key issues related to Arab society.”
She cited the Al Aqsa, the Temple Mount, Sheikh Jarrah, settlements, house demolitions, the Citizenship Law and land confiscations in the Negev.
“When it came to the needs of Arab society and communities, housing, employment and education, they were indifferent,” said Rinawie Zoabi
Rinawie Zoabi’s departure will give the opposition a majority of 61 to 59 MKs and could bring about an election in the fall.