Critical of its Cooperation with Zionist Parties
By: Baruch Yedid
The dramatic political developments in Israel and Benny Gantz’s decision to join a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have generated sharp criticism against the Arab-majority Joint List, which failed to join a coalition in Israel despite its controversial decision to cooperate with Zionist parties.
The Islamic Movement and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization have assailed the Joint List for its failure, and an official told TPS that the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) leadership is expressing serious disappointment over the fact that the Joint List is remaining in the opposition.
He said large sums of money were invested by the PA in the Joint List’s election campaign.
Kamal Khatib, leader of the Northern faction of the Islamic Movement in Israel, wrote in his Twitter account against the Joint List’s policy of political cooperation with Gantz and Member of Knesset (MK) Avigdor Liberman.
“You carried slogans on Netanyahu’s overthrow and the defeat of the right and called on our people to vote for you in pursuit of this goal. You have reached agreements with the fascist Liberman and you have agreed to stand on one front with the general of blood, Gantz, and he is now slapping you in the face and throwing you into the street,” he wrote.
The PFLP has also criticized the Joint List. In a piece published on the Al Quds website, the PFLP attacked the List for its cooperation with Zionist parties.
“The hopes that the Joint List had in criminal Gantz were illusory,” the PFLP said.
The PFLP further stated that “the Joint List did not learn from the lessons of the past and decided to recommend Gantz to head the occupation government to overthrow Netanyahu, as if he [Gantz] were a pigeon of peace and not a war criminal.”
The PFLP clarified that “our people’s true struggle with the occupation must be outside the Zionist political system, away from the false citizenship illusion” and expressed support for the “Rural People” movement in Israel, an Arab movement that defines itself as a “Palestinian movement within the Green Line that calls for the boycott of the Knesset elections.”
(TPS)
