It happened just one day after news broke that Knesset member Basel Ghattas of the Arab Joint List was accused of serious crimes against state security while visiting security prisoners in jail. At a Dec. 19 meeting of the Knesset’s Likud faction, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he supported implementing the Expulsion Law against the allegedly wayward Knesset member. The law, which he originally initiated together with Knesset member Ze'ev Elkin of the Likud Party, dates to February 2016, when it was revealed that Knesset members from the Joint List, including Ghattas, paid a controversial visit to families of killed terrorists involved in the murders of Israelis.
In July 2016, a heated, late-night debate took place in the Knesset, set against the rancor that Israelis felt toward these Arab Knesset members. Sixty-two members of the coalition voted that night to approve the law, which enables them to remove a Knesset member for various reasons — including incitement to racism or support of a terrorist organization. The law states that signatures from 70 Knesset members (out of 120), including 10 members of the opposition, are needed in order to initiate the process. The expulsion is only finalized if 90 Knesset members vote to support it.
