On the Pursuit of Arab Leaders and the Attempt to Exclude Ayman Odeh

Author: عبد أبو شحادة

Since the beginning of last week, a video has emerged as part of a campaign highlighting the pursuit of Knesset member Ayman Odeh. The video opens with footage of Odeh, followed by images of other Knesset members and Arab leaders like Ahmad Tibi, Sami Abu Shahada, and Mansour Abbas, under the slogan: "Now they are pursuing Ayman, but tomorrow the turn will come for the rest." Despite the severity of this persecution and its implications for the ongoing targeting of Arab leaders, this political campaign against Odeh does not represent the beginning of a decline towards fascism, but rather another episode in a long series of systematic policies that require us to stop and ask: Are we ready to acknowledge that what is happening is not a temporary deterioration, but a continuous action plan against Arab leaders in Palestinian territories?

 

Claiming that what we are witnessing is a direct result of the rise of the right wing or the decline of the system towards fascism ignores the deep historical context of Arab politics within Israel. Since the 1950s and 1960s, when the "Land Movement" tried to organize politically, its members faced persecution and administrative arrests, and even when they submitted their candidacy for the Knesset, it was disqualified by the election committee, with the Supreme Court later approving the disqualification, despite the lack of legal or factual basis for that. At that time, the movement represented the Palestinian national and patriotic current, which the state was not prepared to hear or accept, and its disqualification embodied the limits of political work that Israel allows Palestinians within its borders.

As the years passed, the state systematically continued to target movements and figures that challenge the Zionist narrative, from the disqualification of the "Progressive Peace Movement" in the 1980s to repeated attempts to disqualify the "Democratic National Assembly Party" in almost every election cycle. With each attempt at disqualification, there was a violent incitement narrative against Arab lawmakers, to the point that these incitements became an integral part of the political culture in Israel, evolving over time into an effective means for electoral gains.

One of the clearest examples is the continuous incitement against Dr. Azmi Bishara, even though he has been absent from the country for nearly twenty years, has not made any statements in the Hebrew media, and most current Knesset members do not even know the Arabic language to understand what he says; yet the incitement against him continues unabated.

The peak was in 2015 when the Israeli government outlawed the "Northern Islamic Movement" using an undemocratic emergency law, without any judicial procedure. At that time, the movement had succeeded in developing a unique political model, by establishing party institutions and wide public activity, challenging the idea that Arab political action should be confined to the Knesset. However, the state managed overnight to completely dismantle the movement and its institutions.

After every persecution, we would hear the same rhetoric: "Israel will not stop at this point and will continue to target the remaining parties." We were always right in our analysis, but we failed to translate that analysis into effective political action. The recent statements by Mansour Abbas in an interview with the "Face the Press" program, when asked about the exclusion of Ayman Odeh, responded, "He does not deserve the honor of being disqualified" with an arrogant smile, are a blatant indication of Israel's success in fragmenting the Arab political ranks – when the leadership is targeted, the rest fail to show solidarity and cooperate to thwart attempts to delineate the limits of political action that serve the Zionist narrative alone.

Moreover, the absence of any serious reaction to the political persecution against Arab leaders has turned disqualification and exclusion decisions into steps devoid of any real political value, except for being part of the internal Israeli struggle, especially between the government and the Supreme Court. Those who followed the trajectory of the attempt to exclude Ayman Odeh would not be surprised if the Supreme Court did not approve the decision, not due to a legal principle, but due to the way the exclusion process was carried out, as the government's legal advisor stated in critiquing the committee members regarding their conduct that was not aligned with the principles of good administration.

Nevertheless, government members will not hesitate to exploit the annulment of the exclusion as a propaganda tool to portray the Supreme Court as biased towards Arabs, bolstering the narrative in the eyes of the Israeli public that uses the court as a scapegoat in the internal conflict.

All of this again illustrates the absence of any real consideration from the Arab political reaction, and the prevailing assumption that even if exclusions occur, Arab political movements will not present a fundamental challenge to the system. Moreover, little to no action has been taken after the ban on the Northern Islamic Movement, and the administrative arrest of the leader of the "Sons of the Land" movement, Raji Ighbariah, for months, and now the ongoing pursuit against Sheikh Kamal Khatib.

Arab parties, from the "Land Movement" to today, have adhered to working within the law, but the state has exploited emergency laws and demagogic rhetoric built on no legal or factual basis to legitimize repression and persecution. With the absence of readiness to challenge the limits of political discourse, Israel has continuously managed to narrow this space until it has been completely weakened, especially when it pertains to Palestinian national discourse.

The persecution did not begin with Ayman Odeh, and likely will not stop with him. He is nothing but a systematic pattern followed by Israel in its dealings with Palestinian citizens, especially with the currents that represent national identity. The question we should ask today in the face of this reality is: What do we expect from other parties every time an Arab figure is pursued? Do we suffice with statements of condemnation, or do we translate that into collective political action that rejects all policies aimed at reducing the space for discourse and disqualifying anyone who does not please the Israeli establishment?