“I am not the accused, I am the accuser.”
Palestinian socialist Ayman Odeh, who represents the left-wing party Hadash in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) gave this speech at a hearing as part of impeachment charges brought against him by right-wing MKs.
The speech is lightly edited, and includes interjections from Odeh’s right-wing opponents. A video of the speech can be viewed on Twitter, here. You can read more about the impeachment effort in +972 Magazine, here.
Right-wing MKs: Our soldiers are fighting on seven fronts. Ayman Odeh is the eighth front. The eighth front must be cleansed […] You are an enemy, you are part of the enemy. You are a fifth column […] You do not represent Arab citizens, you should be executed by firing squad.
Odeh: If I back down now, the fascist right will have succeeded in setting the boundaries of freedom of expression for Arab citizens, exactly as they want us: subjects, not part of a people, not part of a cause, without political or critical positions. That will not happen!… Those who justified the killing of 54,000 Gazans have no moral right to judge me. Those who never condemned, not even once, the killing of a single Palestinian child have no right to judge me.
Amongst those who signed the impeachment order against me were those who said, “The children of Gaza brought this on themselves”… “Gaza should be burned, there are no innocents there”… “I have no problem if children in Gaza die”… Just two days ago, a political leader from the right said, “The 7 October massacre saved the people of Israel”… and dozens of other appalling statements like these. These are the people who signed the request to impeach me…
It is interesting that those who decided and executed the deal to release Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages are considered legitimate, but the one who expressed happiness about it is considered worthy of impeachment. This is the first time feelings have been put on trial. You are not judging the government’s decision, you are judging my feelings about it…
Every true democrat and peace seeker accuses you. We accuse you of destroying peace since the Oslo Accords. We accuse you of the siege in Gaza and the checkpoints in the West Bank. We accuse you of continuing the occupation, of the ideology of Jewish supremacy, of horrific crimes against humanity, including the killing of 20,000 Gazan children.
The Knesset Ethics Committee decided to suspend me for two weeks for this statement, so I repeat it again: the Israeli government has committed crimes against humanity in Gaza. I am not the accused, I am the accuser.
They label me an extremist, just as they falsely claim I did not condemn the 7 October massacre. You are liars. I condemned the massacre, not for your sake, but for the people. They attack me because I always speak to both peoples. Even my tweet was written in Hebrew, and it spoke about the right of both peoples to live in freedom, dignity, and equality. This moral voice, this voice that is considered a global consensus, is considered “extreme” only in the state of Israel. I am not the extremist here; you are the extremists.
Right-wing MKs: There are not two peoples, between the river and the sea there is only one people!
Odeh: It is not “extreme” to fight for the rights of both people. The extremists are those who support the regime of Jewish supremacy, people like you. [I fight for] both peoples, for their right to live in peace, based on justice, through the establishment of a state alongside a state. We have never retreated; the ones who retreated are those who drifted to the right, even to fascism, in this Knesset.
I am proud of my positions. I will not back down. I will not apologise. I will continue to struggle with my partners until we build a different future here. A better future for all of us, where we live in peace, safety, equality, and true democracy.
Right-wing MK: We will live, you will die.
Odeh: You will back down. But I will not back down from a single word, not a single letter, not a comma or a period. History will absolve me, and history will judge you.
Posted 6 July 2025. Thanks to Workers’ Liberty, from whose website the transcription of the speech was taken.