It’s Another Perilous Result of the Islamist Block’s Control Over PM Bennett and Israel’s Ruling Coalition

Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:

It’s deeply concerning that Israel’s 61-person (out of 120 Knesset members) ruling coalition passed its Ra’am (Islamist Movement party) faction’s new “electricity law.” This law rewards with utility hookups massive illegal Arab and Bedouin building – approximately 130,000 Arab and Bedouin structures, often built on state lands. As Likud MK (Member of Knesset) David Amsalem, a member of the opposition, told the law’s sponsor, Ra’am MK Walid Taha, “You are stealing a quarter of the country with this law.”

ber of the opposition, told the law’s sponsor, Ra’am MK Walid Taha, “You are stealing a quarter of the country with this law.”

It is also concerning that Israel’s ruling coalition discriminated against Jews by rejecting an amendment to also give utility hookups to Jewish “outpost” communities in Judea and Samaria.

Ra’am MK Taha introduced the law with a long speech in Arabic, and rudely rejected requests to speak in Hebrew so that non-Arabic speakers could understand him. In addition, the law was pushed through without the full time for debate, against the advice of the Knesset legal adviser. The 59 opposition MKs walked out in protest during the vote.

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu noted that this law’s passage was “a black day for Zionism and democracy.”

This law rewarding illegal Arab and Bedouin building passed as it did because the Ra’am Islamist Movement party threatened to leave Israel’s ruling coalition (thereby removing the coalition from power) if the law did not pass in the form demanded by Ra’am, without amendments.

The electricity law’s passage was yet another example of the dangers of a ruling coalition that depends on an anti-Israel party Ra’Am (who has refused to condemn recent Arab attacks on Jews) to remain in power. This coalition endangers Israel’s security, in addition to enabling Arabs’ lawless seizure of Israeli lands. For example, last August, a Palestinian Arab source revealed that Ra’am might threaten to topple Israel’s ruling coalition if Israel took action in response to recent Hamas attacks from Gaza.

Last April, ZOA warned all Israeli political parties and Knesset members against making a ruling coalition with the Ra’am Islamic Movement party. Ra’am is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, and sides with Hamas over Israel. Ra’am also opposes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; opposes peace deals between Israel and Arab nations; calls Zionism “racist”; and backs a so-called Palestinian Arab “right of return” to overrun and destroy Israel. Ra’am had also appointed as a top Jewish Advisor, Yaela Raanan, an anti-Zionist member of Israel’s Communist party Hadash. Raanan has called for the erasure “of the fascist regime in Israel,” demanded to “liberate Palestine,” and has made a speech saying “robbery, violence and oppression has become the norm in Israel.” (See “ZOA to Israeli Parties: Make No Coalition With Anti-Israel Ra’am Islamic Movement Party,” April 7, 2021.)