Haifa Mayor Yonah Yahav
Photo: Shaul Golan
Haifa: Hadash supports Yisrael Beiteinu candidate
City councilmen from Arab party support nomination of Yulia Shtraim, whose party leader has previously promoted idea of transferring all Israeli Arabs outside of country. Balad member: 'Hadash must redeem itself before Arab public'
Members of the Haifa City Council belonging to the Hadash movement supported the nomination of a member of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party to the city council this week.
The move surprised a number of councilmen, who wondered at the Arab sector's representatives showing support for a candidate belonging to a party that has previously voiced the idea of transferring the Arab population of Israel to outside its borders.
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On Tuesday four of Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav's deputies were brought before the council for approval. Yulia Shtraim, of Yisrael Beiteinu, was among the candidates approved by the council members by a majority of 21, including two Hadash members.
The vote shocked many in the council. "Party Chairman Lieberman has voiced his opinion on every stage and it's no secret he is calling for the transfer of all Arabs, and calls us a demographic danger," said Walid Hamis, a council member from the Balad movement.
He said that after the election, Yahav announced that during the next meeting the nomination of a Hadash council member would be brought to a vote. "Suddenly we understood the deal," Hamis said.
"The Hadash members have crossed all of the red lines," he added. "Voting for someone who promotes the expulsion of Arabs and the revoking of their rights in order to receive a position in the municipality is an unthinkable act, and I think Hadash must redeem itself before the Arab public."
Fathi Forani, the Hadash member up for nomination next week, explained in response that "for the first time, the municipal coalition agreement included a commitment to battle racism on the part of all of the parties involved."
"The parties all announced that they were committed to the values of equality and democracy through coexistence and respect for all of the city's residents, Jewish and Arab," he said.
