The Suspension Act bill was approved on first reading by the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice committee on Monday in preparation for its first reading at the Knesset plenum. When debate is complete there, the Knesset will vote on whether to kill the bill or send it to the committee for hearings, debates and tweaking. The revised bill then goes to a second plenum hearing for debate and amendments, and then the final version will be up for a vote.
The law at its current form allows the expulsion of an MK from the house permanently for crucial violations such as supporting the denial of the State of Israel as Jewish and democratic, incitement for racism, or support for armed struggle against Israel. The procedure as it stands now is that a majority of 61 MKs could request the permanent removal of an MK for one or more of the above transgressions; the Knesset Committee would then meet to hear the arguments of the MK in question; should the committee decide in favor of an expulsion the plenum would vote on it, and a super-majority of 90 MKs (three-quarters) would be required to carry out the verdict. Ten days later, the next person on the offending MK’s party list would be sworn in, while the expelled member is free to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The push for the new legislation came after three MKs from the Joint Arab List received wide condemnation for attending a meeting with the families of killer terrorists and standing at attention in honor of the dead murderers. This is why the proposed bill received the most harsh condemnation from the same Joint Arab List, whose chairman, MK Ayman Odeh, said he would reevaluate his own membership in the legislator should the bill become a law.
Advocates of the new bill have suggested that they’d rather prevent anti-Israeli MKs from running in the first place, in the Knesset election committee that approves candidate; but without exception, over the past few terms, each time those same Arab Mks have been disqualified, the Supreme Court reinstated them.
“We were elected by our nation, and not by the right,” Odeh said Monday night. “We were not elected by the Knesset Members and we don’t wish or seek to appease them. This is why we are considering — I personally am considering — should you expel the members of [extremist anti-Zionist faction inside the JAL] Balad from the Knesset, to resign from the Knesset myself.”
Odeh suggested the bill was part of his party’s persecution by the coalition parties. “Despite the delegitimization campaign against us, and the raising of the threshold percentage (which actually added 2 seats to JAL, compared with 2013), we decided to remain part of Israeli politics — yet they continue to persecute us,” he said.
Odeh added, “This might remain a purely Jewish parliament, but the struggle is not between Jews and Arabs or Arabs vs. Jews. It’s a struggle for democracy by Jews and Arabs together, of advocates of democracy vs. McCarthyism and racism.”
Incidentally, it is probably more likely that the first MK to be expelled by the super majority would be Jewish — MK Oren Hazan — who is loathed by Prime Minister Netanyahu and by many on the left, including all the Arab MKs. To date, the most memorable MKs who were forced out of the Knesset were Azmi Bishara, in 2007, for aiding the enemy (Hezbollah) during wartime; and MK Rabbi Meir Kahane who was prevented from running to the 12th Knesset in 1988 for racist remarks.
During the committee debate, MK Abdullah Abu Maaruf (Joint Arab List) rioted, tearing out a microphone from its socket. MK Esawi Frej (Meretz) was removed from the committee meeting before the vote, over his behavior.