ISRAEL’S governing coalition has become a minority in parliament after lawmaker Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi from the Meretz party, quit her post.
Zoabi announced her resignation from the government, to coalition leaders Prime Minister Naftali Bennet and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in a letter that was circulated on Israeli media on Thursday.
She said she pulled her support from the government on ideological grounds, leaving Bennet with only 59 of 120 seats in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
The Israeli-Palestinian legislator added that she ‘cannot support a coalition that is disgracefully harassing the society I come from’.
She explained that violence against worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and during the funeral procession of slain Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last Friday, were among the events that led to her decision.
According to Israeli analyst Eli Nissan, Zoabi’s resignation puts the prospect of a snap election – which would be Israel’s fifth in three years – back on the table.
‘The defection of Zoabi is an earthquake for the Israeli government. Her stepping down and that of Silman has led to no majority in parliament,’ said Nissan, in reference to Idit Silman, a key member of Bennett’s own right-wing Yamina party, who quit the government last month. Silman resigned in a surprise move that left the Prime Minister with 60 instead of 61 seats in parliament, causing Bennet’s coalition to lose its slight majority.
‘The next step would be calls for a vote of no confidence,’ said Nissan, as Israeli media reported Knesset sources were expecting the opposition to call for a motion to dissolve the government next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Israel military continues to designate about 46 per cent of the Jordan Valley as a closed military zone, and has been utilising the pretext of military drills to forcefully displace Palestinian families living there as part of a policy of ethnic cleansing, and stifling Palestinian development in the area.
Approximately 6,200 Palestinians live in 38 communities in places earmarked for military use, and have had to obtain permission from the Israeli authorities to enter and live in their own communities.
In violation of international law, the Israeli military also confiscates their farmlands, demolishes their homes and infrastructure.
The resignation of Zoabi opens the gates wide for a massive movement, both inside and outside Palestine, for the establishment of the Palestinian state at once with Jerusalem as its capital and with all Palestinians having the right to return.
Even the European Union has just called for the EU authorities to hold the Israeli regime accountable for the murder of veteran Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. The issue came up for debate in the European Parliament on Thursday.
Western media and Western leaders have been turning a blind eye to the deadly breaches of international law by the murderous apartheid Israeli regime in the occupied Palestinian territories. The EU, however still says it is important to maintain the bloc’s close partnership with Israel.
Yesterday the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates strongly condemned an upcoming parade by far-right Israeli settlers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied East al-Quds.
In a statement released on Thursday, the ministry said it considered the Israeli decision as provocative, aggressive, and an integral part of the open war against al-Quds, its citizens, and its sanctities.
This came after the Israeli right-wing groups and organisers of the so-called March of the Flags reached an agreement with the Israeli public security minister Omer Bar-Lev, to let the settlers march in the occupied holy city on May 29.
The Palestinian ministry described Israel’s attitude as the worst forms of racism, hatred, and hostility to peace after the Israeli terror groups called for the ‘demolition’ of the Dome of the Rock
The Palestinian government has called on the international community to quickly intervene to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.
In fact it is the trade unions in the US, the UK and the EU that must intervene and act with massive general strikes in support of the Palestinians.
They must impose an international boycott of Israel, and force their governments to recognise the Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and halt immediately all supplies of arms and munitions to Israel.
There is not a moment to lose. Forward to the Palestinian state!
