Knesset Plenum to Vote on Expelling Palestinian MK Ayman Odeh on Monday, 14 July
The launch of this unlawful and discriminatory motion was sparked by a complaint made by Likud MK Avichai Baraon. A hearing of the Knesset House Committee held on 24 June focused narrowly on a single social media post, in which Odeh expressed his support for the Hamas-Israel prisoner exchange back in January. In it he states, “Happy for the release of the kidnapped and the prisoners. From here we must free both peoples from the yoke of occupation. We were all born free.” The Basic Law: The Knesset (amendment No. 44, also known as the Expulsion of MKs Law) stipulates two instances in which a MK may be expelled: incitement to racism and support for an armed struggle against the State of Israel.
The Knesset’s plenary must vote with a 90 vote supermajority of 120 MKs for the expulsion to take place. After the Expulsion of MKs Law passed in 2016, Adalah and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned to the Supreme Court to challenge the law, arguing that it would be used in practice for ideological persecution, particularly of Palestinian MKs, and that the law opens the door to majoritarian control by allowing Knesset members to oust their colleagues for virtually any politically-motivated reason and without any substantive process. The Supreme Court upheld the law in 2018.
Read more about the law: “Expulsion of MKs” Law - Amendment No. 44 to Basic Law: Knesset - Adalah
The Knesset House Committee held two hearings on the motion to expel MK Ayman Odeh, on 24 and 30 June 2025, both of which exposed the political nature of the campaign: rather than examining the legality of Odeh’s social media post, MKs from both coalition and opposition parties used the sessions to incite, threaten, and delegitimize Palestinian representation in the Knesset. Committee Chair MK Ofir Katz declared, “While the soldiers are fighting on seven fronts, the eighth front needs to be cleared, and Ayman Odeh is our eighth front.” He later added, “You won’t be in the Knesset — we’ll stay, and you won’t. Not in the Knesset, not in Israel.” Other MKs escalated the incitement by making explicit threats. MK Osher Shekalim (Likud) stated, “In another country, you’d be shot by firing squad”; MK Yitzhak Kroizer (Otzma Yehudit/Jewish Power) warned, “These are your final years as a citizen of the State of Israel”; and MK Ariel Kallner (Likud) threatened, “Keep shouting from prison. And we’ll destroy Gaza too.” The House Committee ultimately voted 14 to 2 in favor of expelling MK Odeh.
Knesset Committee Votes to Expel Palestinian MK Ayman Odeh in Unlawful, Politically Motivated Move
