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| Photo: Zo Haderech |
Hadash MK Ayman Odeh was the main speaker at the weekly demonstration in the Jewish-Arab city of Haifa, he asserts that the “real struggle” in Israel is “between fascism and democracy” and “between occupation and freedom.”
Two days before a scheduled vote to expel him from the Knesset, Odeh calls on Arab citizens “to flock in masse to the polls” in the next election, declaring that “Arab citizens must be part of the mas struggle against the far-right government’s coup d’état.”
"You know what frightens the fascist and messianic right the most?” he asked thousands in the crowd. “A democratic Arab – one who also reaches out to Jews and offers real partnership, based on national rights for both peoples, peace, equality and democracy. That’s why they want me out.” Odeh said removing him from the Knesset would set a dangerous precedent: “Those trying to expel me today will try to silence you tomorrow,” he warned. “Even if they don’t, we are all obligated to fight for freedom of speech and democracy – for everyone.”
He called to end the war in Gaza and the “horrific crimes” Israel is committing there and urged resistance to the judicial overhaul. But, he added, “not to return Israel to what it once was for us – with military rule, land confiscation and exclusion. We are fighting to build a just, shared future for both peoples: peace without occupation, security without fear, equality without supremacy, and democracy for all.”
Opening his speech, Odeh reflected on growing up in Haifa and how the city shaped his political identity. “For me, Jews and Arabs living together never needed to be proven or explained. It was always the clearest, most basic daily reality.” He stressed that Israel must end its occupation of the West Bank. “The occupation isn’t just a moral injustice against the Palestinian people – it is the root of the regime overhaul,” he said. “
At the demonstration held at Begin Road, near the entrance of the Israeli army headquarters Yehuda Cohen, father of captive soldier Nimrod Cohen, accuses Netanyahu of “buying time” to avoid his corruption trial, at the expense of Nimrod. Near the protest at Begin Road, some 500 left-wing activists among them several Hadash members hold a silent vigil for Gaza children killed by the Israeli occupation forces, on the Kaplan Street sidewalk abutting the southern side of the army headquarters. The protesters hold candles and pictures of children killed in Israeli army strikes since Netanyahu resumed hostilities in the Strip on March 18. Each picture shows the child’s name, date, place of death, and age when killed. Also, in Jerusalem and Haifa demonstrators carried pictures of murdered children.
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The Man Who Humiliated Netanyahu: On the Political Persecution of Comrade Ayman Odeh in Israel
