‘Gaza Will Win’ Remark Pushes Odeh Toward Historic Knesset Expulsion The Knesset House Committee has advanced impeachment proceedings that could make Odeh the first Israeli lawmaker removed for political speech during wartime By Gabriel Colodro/The Media Line Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has opened proceedings to expel Member of Knesset (MK) Ayman Odeh after he declared […]
World
The Media Line: ‘Gaza Will Win’ Remark Pushes Odeh Toward Historic Knesset Expulsion
Audio By Carbonatix
‘Gaza Will Win’ Remark Pushes Odeh Toward Historic Knesset Expulsion
The Knesset House Committee has advanced impeachment proceedings that could make Odeh the first Israeli lawmaker removed for political speech during wartime
By Gabriel Colodro/The Media Line
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has opened proceedings to expel Member of Knesset (MK) Ayman Odeh after he declared “Gaza will win” at a recent public event, a statement that shocked lawmakers during Israel’s war with Hamas. The House Committee’s vote this week to move impeachment forward could make Odeh the first legislator removed solely for political speech, sparking a fierce debate over the limits of democracy in wartime.
Odeh, chairman of the Arab-Jewish Hadash party and head of the Hadash-Ta’al electoral list, shared the stage with Sheikh Raed Salah, a cleric previously convicted of inciting terrorism. With more than 20 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers killed in June and over 50 hostages still held in Gaza, lawmakers from across the political spectrum condemned the remark as siding with the enemy. Odeh’s refusal to retract his words intensified the uproar. The measure now needs support from 90 MKs in the full plenum—an unprecedented step in Israeli parliamentary history.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, head of Yesh Atid, endorsed the effort, calling Odeh’s wartime rhetoric “unforgivable.”
“Odeh said we should compare the kidnapped hostages to the Nukhba force terrorists. While 20 IDF soldiers are being killed in a single month, he says ‘Gaza will win,’ and more seriously, he refused to retract it. That is unforgivable.”
Lapid stressed that Yesh Atid’s stance targets one person, not an entire community.
“It’s not about Arab parties. It’s personal. Someone who speaks like that should not be a member of parliament.”
Responding to criticism that he had joined forces with the far right, Lapid noted: “I signed the petition to disqualify Baruch Marzel and Bentzi Gopstein from entering the Knesset.”
Marzel and Gopstein are extremist Jewish activists barred from running for office because of racist, anti-democratic rhetoric.
“I believe extremists with violent views should not be in parliament—any of them. That doesn’t put us on the same side. Yesh Atid boycotted Otzma Yehudit from day one and will continue to do so, because it is a neo-fascist party.”
Yair Golan, leader of the left-wing Democrats party, warns that the move risks eroding democratic norms: “You don’t have to agree with Ayman Odeh’s position, but democracy means being willing to hear opinions that are not your own.”
He argued that ejecting elected representatives for their words could set a dangerous precedent.
“There are people sitting in this parliament who I believe are dangerous to the State of Israel. Ayman Odeh is not one of them.”
Expanding on his critique, Golan accused ultra-nationalist factions of undermining democracy.
“These armed, organized militias represented in this very Knesset are a threat to democracy and Israel’s security. This is not fringe violence. This is state-backed anarchy.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, welcomed the expulsion drive.
“Those who support Gaza’s victory while our soldiers are dying do not belong in the Knesset.”
Ben Gvir said Odeh’s remarks amounted to aiding the enemy and framed the move as national self-defense.
“In any other country, someone who says ‘Gaza will win’ during a war would be charged with aiding the enemy. We’re doing the bare minimum.”
Israeli law permits removing an MK for inciting racism or supporting armed struggle against the state, but no expulsion has ever succeeded.
In 2010 MK Hanin Zoabi was sanctioned, not ousted, after joining the Mavi Marmara flotilla. Former MK Azmi Bishara fled in 2007 under allegations of aiding Hezbollah, while Meir Kahane’s Kach party was banned from future elections in 1988, yet Kahane himself served out his term.
None of those cases advanced as far as the current bid to oust Odeh.
Whether the plenum ultimately expels Odeh or not, the fight has reignited questions about loyalty, free speech, and the boundaries of democratic discourse during war, and laid bare Israel’s deep political and societal fault lines.