The defection by Arab lawmaker, Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi leaves Prime Minister Naftali Bennett with a more precarious grip on power.
Israel’s ruling coalition became a minority in parliament on Thursday when an Arab lawmaker from a left-wing party quit, leaving Prime Minister Naftali Bennett with a more precarious grip on power.
The defection by Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi leaves Bennett controlling 59 of the 120 seats in the Knesset. In a letter to the prime minister, she cited ideological differences.
The opposition could seek to exploit her walkout by submitting a motion on Wednesday to dissolve the government and hold an early election. In a possible reprieve for Bennett, Zoabi stopped short of saying she would vote in favour.
In her letter Zoabi, a legislator from the Meretz party, referenced an escalation in violence at a Jerusalem holy site as well as tactics by Israeli police at the funeral last week of a Palestinian journalist.
“I cannot keep supporting the existence of a coalition that shamefully harasses the society I came from,” she said in the letter circulated in Israeli media.
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She acknowledged that voting to dissolve the government may not be in the interest of the Arab public who make up about 21% of the Israeli population.
“I’m not under any illusions. I know that this coalition may be the sanest possible option, including for the Arab public,” she told Channel 12 TV. “I’m not going to blow it up automatically.”
Bennett heads a collection of left-wing, centrist, right-wing and Arab parties that was sworn in a year ago, ending Binyamin Netanyahu’s record 12-year run as prime minister.
It lost its slight majority last month when a lawmaker from Bennett’s own right-wing party quit the coalition.
The government is now more vulnerable and may seek external support to buttress itself against no-confidence votes in parliament.
