By CNN’s Rob Picheta, Kareem Khadder and Amir Tal, and journalist Lauren Izso
Israel’s fragility lost its parliamentary majority on Thursday after an Arab-Israeli lawmaker from the ruling coalition resigned, accusing its leaders of fueling tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and condemning violent police intervention at the funeral of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, a lawmaker from the left-wing Meretz party, said she opposes the government’s shift to the right and accused it of “shamefully harassing the society I come from. “
His resignation means Prime Minister Naftali Bennett holds power for only 59 of the 120 members of the Knesset and now leads a minority government, which can sign a new election circular in the country after years of political instability.
“In recent months, for narrow political considerations, coalition leaders have chosen to keep their right flank,” Zoabi wrote in her unexpected resignation letter on Thursday. “Last month, the month of Ramadan, was unbearably difficult,” he added.
“The Temple Mount scenes of violent police confronting a crowd of parishioners and the funeral of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh led me to a valid, single conclusion: no more,” Zoabi wrote. “I cannot continue the lifestyle of a coalition that shamefully harasses the society I come from. “
The Temple Mount is the sacred position in the Old City of Jerusalem in Arabic as Haram al-Sharif or Noble Shrine, which contains the Al Aqsa Mosque.
Television footage from the funeral of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh showed officials beating mourners with batons, forcibly cutting Palestinian flags and arresting Americans carrying her coffin on the streets of Jerusalem. Abu Akleh shot in the head in the West Bank while covering an Israeli army raid event; the exact cases of his murder remain unclear.
“I am and continue to be in Arab-Jewish coexistence with each and every component of my being, in academia, business and politics,” Zoabi wrote in her letter. it will have to come from a position of equality, with the agreement of both parties. “
Rinawie Zoabi’s resignation did not automatically bring about the fall of Bennett’s 11-month rule. But opposition leaders can seek and win a fifth parliamentary election in 4 years if they get out of the Knesset, where the government is now more numerous.
Bennett took office on a rotating basis with centrist leader and current foreign minister Yair Lapid, who last year assembled a giant and fragile coalition of political parties, adding to Meretz. Lapid will have to change roles with Bennett during the last two years of his four-year term, if the government survives that time.
The political resignation came amid emerging tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.
On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces denied an Israeli media report that there was no investigation by IDF thieves into Abu Akleh’s murder. The Haaretz newspaper reported Thursday morning that the Military Police’s Criminal Investigation Division (MPCID) did not have to open an investigation. A few hours later, the IDF said a resolution had not yet been made.
“A resolution related to the need for an MPCID investigation through Military Defense will be decided, in accordance with the findings of the ongoing operational investigation, as is standard in such cases,” the IDF said in a statement.
According to IDF policy, a thief investigation is not automatically opened if a death occurs in an active fighting situation, unless there is a credible and prompt suspicion of a known thief crime of the event.
Shireen Abu Akleh’s brother, Tony, told CNN he was not surprised by the report that there would be no investigation of criminals, and said he “did not expect much from Israel and it is evident that they are biased,” Abu Akleh said.
“For our part. . . we will continue the investigation and proceed with a fair investigation into the killing of my sister Shireen, and we will also emphasize the importance of the U. S. government’ failure to conduct a fair investigation into the killing of my sister Shireen. “The U. S. Government takes immediate action to bring the guilty and guilty to complete prosecution through the law,” he said.
“Shireen is a murdered U. S. citizen and the United States deserves to take immediate action to investigate this crime and the killing of an American journalist,” he said.
The Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din said Thursday that the lack of investigation into the killing “would not be an exception, but the rule. “
“This formula has shown time and again that it cannot and is not willing to conduct investigations and prosecutions in accordance with the criteria required by law,” Ziv Stahl, the organization’s executive director, said in a statement.
In publishing its investigation of the 2019 and 2020 data, the organization said the chances of a Palestinian seeing their complaint result in the prosecution of a soldier were 2%. The organization also said that 72% of court cases filed between 2019 and 2020 over alleged crimes committed through anti-Palestinian infantrymen were closed without criminal investigation.
El-CNN-Wire™
OEE | Terms of Use| Privacy Policy| About us| FCC | Applications
Don’t sell my information