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Storm in Haifa over Israeli-Arab council member

The newly elected mayor of Haifa, Einat Kalisch-Rotem, refused to back down from the coalition agreement she signed with the Israeli-Arab Communist Party.
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Raja Zaatry is a friend of mine on Facebook. I couldn’t remember who he was and never saw any of his posts until I came across his name in connection with his controversial appointment as deputy mayor of the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Haifa (under a power-sharing agreement, he will only take office in 2021). The storm even led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri to oppose the nomination.

Zaatry, an Arab citizen of Israel and head of the pro-Communist Arab-Jewish Hadash Party branch in Haifa, made headlines in recent days after politicians on the right accused him of supporting terrorism. Deri is trying to prevent Zaatry from taking office by virtue of his authority as minister of interior, and Knesset coalition whip David Amsalem tabled a proposed bill to thwart the appointment. Within two days, over 7,100 people had signed an online petition calling to revoke Zaatry’s appointment.

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