Ayman Odeh

Ayman Odeh
Date of birth (1975-01-01) 1 January 1975
Place of birth Haifa, Israel
Knessets 20
Faction represented in Knesset
2015– Joint List

Ayman Odeh (Arabic: أيمن عودة‎, Hebrew: איימן עודה‎; born 1 January 1975) is an Arab Israeli lawyer and politician.[1] He is a member of the Knesset, and currently serves as leader of Hadash, and head of the Joint List, a political alliance of four Arab-dominated parties; Hadash, Balad, the United Arab List and Ta'al.

Biography

Ayman Odeh was born in 1975 and raised in Haifa, within the Kababir neighbourhood, which is known for its Ahmadi majority. He was the only Muslim student in his Christian school, but now describes himself as having transcended the confines of ethnicity and religion.[1] He identifies as a socialist.[2] Odeh is married to Nardine Aseli, a physician, and has three children.

Political career

Odeh joined Hadash and represented it on Haifa City Council between 1998 and 2005, before becoming the party's secretary-general in 2006. He was placed 75th on the party's list for the 2009 elections,[3] in which Hadash won four seats. He won sixth place on the party's list for the 2013 Knesset elections, but failed to enter the Knesset as the party again won four seats.

Following the announcement that Hadash leader Mohammed Barakeh was resigning prior to the 2015 elections, Odeh was elected as the party's new leader.[4] In the buildup to the 2015 elections Hadash joined the Joint List, an alliance of the main Arab parties. Odeh was placed at the head of the Joint List's electoral list, which is expected to put him at the head of a significant parliamentary faction in the new Knesset. Analysts credited the charismatic Odeh for giving the Arab political union a more moderate, pragmatic face.[1][5][6] Odeh was elected to the 20th Knesset, along with 12 other candidates from the Joint List.[7][8]

In an interview with The Times of Israel, Odeh discussed the Joint List's social agenda, including a 10-year plan to tackle issues pertinent to the Arab sector such as employment of women, rehabilitation of failing regional councils, recognition of unrecognized Bedouin communities in the Negev, public transportation in Arab towns and eradication of violence. He also said he supported the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in Israel, adding that a Palestinian state should fulfill the same goals for Arab Palestinians.[5]

Odeh's campaign for the March 2015 elections had a "breakthrough moment" when, in a televised debate of candidates, Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, who often refers to Israel's Arab citizens as "traitors," called Odeh a "Palestinian citizen" and said Odeh was not welcome in Israel. Odeh replied, “I am very welcome in my homeland. I am part of the nature, the surroundings, the landscape,” contrasting his birth in Israel with Lieberman's immigration from the former Soviet Union. Odeh is now viewed as a potential power broker given that Arab parties appear to be uniting to meet the government's requirement that parties meet a minimum threshold of votes to secure a place in the Knesset. Odeh has a style that contrasts with that of MK Haneen Zoabi, who is more confrontational. Odeh voices his willingness to work with Jewish partners, and he often quotes Martin Luther King, Jr as he promotes peaceful co-existence.[9]

Award and Recognition

Views and opinions

Odeh says his service in the Haifa city council made it clear to him that Arabs and Jews must work together. He describes Haifa as "the most liberal multicultural yet homogenous city in Israel."[12]

Odeh has also expressed strong support for increasing recognition of Mizrahi culture and Arab Jewish history in official Israeli and Palestinian discourses; in a widely cited speech to the Knesset plenum in July 2015, MK Odeh argued that the State of Israel has systematically discriminated against and suppressed the culture of Jews who immigrated to Israel from Arab and Muslim lands (who make up the majority of the Israeli population) in order to feed the idea of a natural separation between Jews and Arabs. He also argued that the large role played by Jews in forming historical and modern Arab culture (including famous Jews such as Rabbi David Buzaglo who wrote Jewish religious poetry primarily in Arabic, and famous Jews who were popular in the Arab world in the mid-20th Century such as Leila Murad) has been forgotten by Jews and Arabs alike due to the ideological elements of the Arab Israeli conflict, and the desire by Israel's elite to portray a Western image of Jews and of the country. Odeh called upon Jewish and Arab members of the Knesset alike to support a new Knesset committee (which he had joined as a member) lobbying for the re-emphasizing of the culture of Jews from Arab and Muslim lands.[13] In that speech, Odeh summarized his position thusly: "The culture of the Jews of Arab and Islamic countries is a shared Jewish and Arab culture. Because of this the state has fought [against] it, and yet because of this [same reason] we must fight to strengthen it."[14]

Odeh says "We represent those who are invisible in this country, and we give them a voice. We also bring a message of hope to all people, not just to the Arabs but to the Jews, too,” [15]

In October 2015, Odeh gave support to the unarmed Palestinian struggle."[16]

Condemning the attacks in Brussels, Belgium on march 22nd 2016, Odeh stated ISIS is the enemy of all mankind.[17]

In february 2016, Odeh considered resigning from the Knesset to show his protest against Controversial MK suspension bill [18]

Shin Bet Interrogations

Israeli internal intelligence agency, The Shin Bet interrogated Odeh many times in the past. He said in an interview to Newyorker magazine - I was called three more times by the Shin Bet. They never hit me. But they succeeded in two things. I isolated myself from my friends—I became much more introverted. And I had the sense the Shin Bet was watching me no matter where I went. When I went to the bus station and I saw some guy in sunglasses, I just assumed he was Shin Bet. [19]

Life Threats

A right wing activist was arrested in february 2016 for making death threats against Odeh [20]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Laub, Karin (4 March 2015). "Rise of pragmatic Arab politician shakes up Israeli politics". Associated Press. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Rettig Gur, Haviv (27 February 2015). "TV debate exposes Israel’s good, bad and ugly". Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  3. ↑ Hadash Knesset website (Hebrew)
  4. ↑ Zahalka wins Balad primaries, Odeh to lead Hadash, Times of Israel, 17 January 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015
  5. 1 2 Miller, Elhanan (4 March 2015). "After uniting Arabs behind him, Ayman Odeh looks to lead opposition". Times of Israel. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  6. ↑ Shrenzel, Israel (28 February 2015). "The joint Arab list: Careful who you vote for". Haaretz. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  7. ↑ "20th Knesset to be sworn in March 31, 2015". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  8. ↑ תוצאות האמת של הבחירות לכנסת ה-20 [Actual results of the 20th Knesset elections] (in Hebrew). Israeli Central Elections Committee. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Hadid, Diaa (15 March 2015). "Arab Alliance Rises as Force in Israeli Elections". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "Israeli Arab Party Leader Makes Foreign Policy's 100 leading Global Thinkers List". haaretz.com.
  11. ↑ "For Uniting Israel's Arabs". foreignpolicy.com.
  12. ↑ Schulman, Marc (6 March 2015). "Israeli Election: What Do Israeli Arabs Want?". Newsweek. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  13. ↑ Odeh, Ayman (15 July 2015). "Arab Israelis must help to save and promote the culture of the Jews from Arab lands". Speech to the Knesset of Israel (in Hebrew). Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  14. ↑ Author's translation. Original source in Hebrew: http://mekomit.co.il/?????-?????-???-???????/
  15. ↑ "Israel’s Arab political parties have united for the first time". washingtonpost.com.
  16. ↑ Ben Solomon, Ariel (October 6, 2015). "Odeh: I do not put limits on the Palestinian struggle against 'occupation'". The Jerusalem Post.
  17. ↑ "MK Ayman Odeh in response to Belgium attacks: 'ISIS is the enemy of all mankind'". jpost.com.
  18. ↑ "Joint List's Odeh threatens to resign from Knesset if bill is used to remove Balad MKs". jpost.com.
  19. ↑ "Seeds of Peace". newyorker.com.
  20. ↑ "Right-winger arrested for death threats against chairman, Arab party says". timesofisrael.com.

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by
Mohammad Barakeh		 Leader of Hadash
2015–present 		Incumbent
New office Leader of the Joint List
2015–present
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