DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

For the 1.7 million Palestinians living as citizens of Israel, deep-seated racism and discrimination are part of everyday life. Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently chided Palestinians who disagree with his right-wing policies, saying “Those who are against us, there’s nothing to be done—we need to pick up an ax and cut off his head.” Lieberman also reinforced his long-held advocacy of “transfer,” that is, ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by removing them from the state of Israel. And then on the final night of the Israeli election, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu infamously said that “the Arabs are voting in droves,” an alarmist warning that their votes could sway the election in a dangerousdirection, thus inciting further racism.

As a Palestinian lawmaker and Member of the Israeli Knesset, Haneen Al Zoubi has also faced humiliating treatment by Israeli lawmakers, who regularly attack her personally and politically. The Israeli right has targeted MK Al Zoubi for many years, trying to revoke her citizenship and to disqualify her from reelection. The Knesset Ethics Committee suspended her for six months based on her political views and the Israeli High Court affirmed the suspension. Shortly thereafter, the Israeli Election Committee refused to qualify her as a candidate but upon review by an Israeli court, MK Al Zoubi was permitted to run for reelection. The Israeli Election Committee attempted to prevent MK Al Zoubi from running in the 2013 election as well. Despite this massive campaign to silence MK Al Zoubi, she easily won re-election this past March. Her Balad party is now part of the Joint List, a coalition of four Arab parties that garnered thirteen Knesset seats in the March 2015 election. MK Al Zoubi will talk about this newly empowered alliance and its potential in improving the human, civil, and political rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel. She will discuss the recent elections and the ramifications of the Likud party winning another term.

http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/d/EventDetails/i/51622