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Israel’s governing coalition was dealt a fresh blow this week when Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi suddenly resigned thereby increasing the risk the opposition could push for a vote to disperse the Knesset and send Israel back to elections.
Zoabi resigned from the coalition on Thursday, in a move that shocked even her own party, causing the governing coalition led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennet to become a minority government. The resignation leaves the ruling coalition with 59 seats and its opponents 61, meaning the opposition, if all support doing so, now have enough votes to dissolve the Knesset, which would lead to a new general election. Zoabi has long been seen as a political renegade by the coalition leadership after previously voting against their bill on an ultra-Orthodox military draft.
Although, the coalition government is concerned that it will be dissolved, Zoabi has yet to say whether she would vote to dissolve the Knesset and could still be persuaded to support the coalition from the outside. Zoabi met with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Thursday evening, according to a statement the two met in a “good atmosphere” and have agreed to meet again on Sunday “to find a positive solution to the situation.
Zoabi has explained she believes that her role as a representative of the Arab community was in too great a conflict with a government which she says has overseen clashes on the Temple Mount and supported Jewish right-wing groups. Zoabi took to Twitter stating: “This last month has been unbearable. The site that came on from Temple Mount of violent policeman in front of a crowd of worshippers the funeral of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqla, brought to me only one personal conclusion: no more”. She added that it was the death of the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqla that was “the straw that broke the camels back” and that “the Arab public is fed up with the behaviour of this government”.
Her party leader responded to Zoabi’s resignation on Twitter, stating: “Our coalition is important, and we are working to maintain it. The dissolution of the coalition will be a reward for Netanyahu and Ben Gvir, and a great damage to society as a whole – Jews and Arabs. Meretz and I are committed to every effort to stabilise the government and ensure its continued existence”.
