Coalition Approves Boycott of Joint List

Acting on an initiative by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, the coalition parties will be boycotting Joint List MKs in the Knesset after they snubbed the Peres funeral, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Liberman’s proposal to walk out on Joint List speeches and to have no discussions with them was adopted at a coalition meeting on Monday.

Joint List MKs “proved that there is no longer a point in holding discussions or even arguments with them, and we should boycott all of their appearances and speeches in the Knesset’s plenum,” Liberman declared.

The Zionist Camp and Yesh Atid parties have been invited to join in the sanctions but so far have not announced a decision.
In response, Joint List chairman Ayman Odeh berated Liberman’s proposal as “a new height in the humiliations from a man whose entire political legacy is built on hatred and polarization, who is coming to teach us how to build bridges.
“Liberman’s initiatives to harm the political representation of Arab citizens only strengthen us, just like his fear-mongering only makes the Joint List greater,” Odeh added. “We will continue acting in all arenas, including [in] the parliamentary one, to promote peace and equality.”

Odeh said his colleagues have “complex” feelings about Peres, who “since 1948 brought disaster to my people.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other PA officials attended the funeral, and a delegation of Arab mayors paid a condolence call to Peres’s family.