The writer is the head of the news division at Radio Nas and a news commentator 12
While all the Arab parties in Israel thought that the tensions in the Arab cities and Jerusalem were already behind us, and feared the development in the West Bank and Gaza, the surprising video of joint list chairman Ayman Odeh arrived from Nablus Gate. It is to return to them and throw away their weapons and not to participate in the oppression of the Palestinian people.
Odeh, who opened his statement with the blessing of Ramadan Karim, explained why he came to the Nablus Gate to photograph this statement: “Recently I have met with many groups from occupied Arab Jerusalem. Young Palestinians with Israeli citizenship have told me that they are being harmed and humiliated. It is important for me to tell me here. .
This video was received with wall-to-wall condemnation in the Israeli political system, the right and the left agreed, exceptionally, to condemn this video, and even called for an investigation into Odeh for incitement and rebellion against the Israeli police. Ba’aram was not particularly enthusiastic about the video, they also objected to it, mainly due to the style and timing. Is this a sophisticated move that has hidden goals or an innocent video that sparked an unexpected storm?
The goal: to prevent pangs of conscience
The answer comes from closed conversations that Odeh had last week with his associates regarding possible scenarios following the political tangle created after the retirement of Idit Silman from the coalition. Odeh, noticing growing pressure from his former center-left partners, told associates he would try to prevent a situation in which members of the joint would be subjected to pressure and pangs of conscience to save the Bennett government with the excuse to prevent Netanyahu from returning to power. He made it clear that if public opinion – Arab and Jewish – was portrayed that the joint refused to keep the government and led to a fifth election, it would result in a heavy political cost. Hence a hint: “It will come from them, not from us.” In other words: the common will cause the coalition to get itself out of this idea. Two days later, the video arrived.
There is no doubt that the content of the video reflects the views of Odeh, who never hid them. It even reflects the position of the Arab political leadership in Israel in all its forms – which opposes the service of Arab citizens in the army, as well as the position of security officials since the establishment of the state regarding Arab citizens (excluding the Druze community). But Odeh’s use of the “security forces” was not very successful and made him partially retract it and make it clear that he did not mean the police but only the soldiers in the army. Odeh also explained in the media, in Arabic and Hebrew, that he distinguishes between a policeman and a soldier, although a policeman in Jerusalem is also in the occupation service according to his method. It is important to emphasize that most of the security forces in Jerusalem at the entrances and gates of the al-Aqsa Mosque are border police, which makes Odeh’s clarifications puzzling.
The magnitude of the storm surprised Odeh
And although it was a planned move, the chairman of the joint list did not expect this wave of reactions. He thought it was a small storm that would pass quickly, and especially that the video achieved its goal. .
Odeh’s move, as stated, is primarily intended to torpedo any possibility of a dialogue with the joint to provide a lifeline to the Bennett government. There is still concern that the joint, which consists of three different parties, will not remain united because of the pressure on it to save the government. Rather, he feared his comrades from the canal Ahmad Tibi and Osama Saadi who kept quiet and were in no hurry to declare like the rest of their comrades opposition to saving the government.
A poll conducted by News 13 this week showed that 53% of the Arab public do not agree with Ayman Odeh’s calls from the Nablus Gate. This survey largely reflects the attitude of the majority of the public towards Ayman Odeh, not necessarily from his statement. The overwhelming majority of the Arab public agrees in principle with the opposition to Arab service in the army, but it strongly opposes the political exploitation of value positions of the Arab public to thwart such and other political moves, and that is what it did this week.