The Jewish progressive American advocacy group J Street concluded its 12th annual National Conference on Monday, April 19, virtually hosting nearly 5,000 attendees who listened to lawmakers, experts and activists discuss the current respective political moments in Israel and the United States, as well as the present state of the US-Israel relations.
On Sunday, April 18, the chair of the Joint List MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash) told the conference that his alliance remains committed to replacing Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister and ending the Israel’s political crisis.
Odeh told the conference that Israel, more than ever, finds itself at a crossroads between a future of occupation and war, and a future of peace, democracy and equality for all. He highlighted the Black Lives Matter movement in the US and progressive American politicians who have managed to push the nation towards being a more inclusive democracy.
“We must be brave enough to look at the structures of supremacy that aims to increase inequality between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians; between occupiers and occupied; between those in power and all of us who are denied power because of our race, our gender, our religion or our nationality; and we must dismantle these structures,” Odeh said.
On Monday, Joint List MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash) posted a tweet in which she urged the Yesh Atid chair, MK Yair Lapid, not to reach a rotation agreement for the premiership with far-right Yamina chairperson Naftali Bennett. Touma-Sliman wrote, “If Netanyahu is unable to form a coalition, Lapid should not cede the premiership to Bennett who has just seven seats. Lapid should demand that he be the sole leader of the government. This would be a government which is not right-wing. This kind of government would be one that the Joint List would be prepared to back.”