Religious Zionist Party chief MK Bezalel Smotrich is expected to petition for the United Arab List (Ra’am) to be barred from running in this fall’s Knesset election, Israel Hayom reported Tuesday morning.
Smotrich torpedoed efforts to form a right-wing government with the UAL after the 2021 election, leading to the formation of the current Lapid-Bennett government, of which the UAL is a member.
The UAL represents the southern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and is supported primarily by the country’s Bedouin population.
“After a year of a terrible government which relied on terror supporters from the party of the Islamic movement, the time has finally come to put an end to this farce,” Smotrich said.
“The UAL has shown over this past year with its endless comments and actions that its loyalties do not lie with Israel as a Jewish, democratic state, but to the worst of our enemies.”
Israel, Smotrich continued, “cannot allow a Hamas-like party to have a place in its parliament. Over the past year, we led the effort against the folly of forming a government with terror supporters, and we will continue to fight for Israel and its identity as a Jewish, democratic state.”