On July 17, the results of the internal Arab Balad Party elections were made public: Knesset member Haneen Zoabi was pushed to an unrealistic place on her party list. Just 24 hours later, the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee convened to vote on the suspension bill, also known as the Zoabi bill, toward its final ratification in the plenum during its second and third readings.
Following the elections in her party, Zoabi will probably not serve in the next Knesset and may even conclude her political activities. It turns out that Zoabi succeeded in creating pockets of resistance and anger due to her provocative methods even in her own party. Speaking on condition of anonymity, one of her opponents within the Joint List (unified slate of predominantly Arab parties) said that her “irresponsible and unwise” behavior not only did nothing to strengthen her within the faction, but caused the faction irreversible damage. Evidently she will be forced to pay a political price for her behavior.
