Ayman Odeh | |
|---|---|
 Odeh in 2021 | |
| Faction represented in theKnesset | |
| 2015–2019 | Joint List |
| 2019 | Hadash |
| 2019–2022 | Joint List |
| 2022– | Hadash |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1975-01-01)1 January 1975 (age 50) |
| Alma mater | University of Craiova |
Ayman Aadil Odeh (Arabic:أيمن عادل عودة,Hebrew:אַיְּימָן עַאדֶל עוֹדֶה; born 1 January 1975) is anArab Israeli[1] lawyer and politician.[2] He is a member ofKnesset and leader of theHadash alliance.[1]
Odeh was born in 1975,[3] and raised inHaifa, within theKababir neighbourhood. His father was a construction worker.[2] Although his clan mostly belongs to theAhmadiyya, Odeh's parents, who wereSunni Muslims, sent him to aChristian school where he was the only Muslim student, proudly noting that he got an A in New Testament studies on his high school final exams. He now describes himself asatheist, having "transcended the confines of religion and ethnicity".[2][4] He studied law at theUniversity of Craiova inRomania from 1993 to 1997. During his law studies in Romania, he took part in pro-Palestinian rallies, learnedRomanian, and read the memoirs of various political thinkers and revolutionaries.[5] He earned aBachelor of Laws degree from theUniversity of Craiova and in 2001 was certified to practice law in Israel, though he is not a member of theIsrael Bar Association.[citation needed]
Odeh met his wife Nardine Aseli, a gynecologist, at the wake for her 17-year-old brother who was killed in 2000 at the start of theSecond Intifada.[6] They married in 2005 and have three children.[5]
He speaksArabic,Hebrew,English andRomanian.[3]
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Odeh joinedHadash, and represented it on Haifa City Council between 1998 and 2005, before becoming the party's secretary-general in 2006. He was placed 75th on the party's list for the2009 elections,[7] in which Hadash won four seats. He won sixth place on the party's list for the2013 Knesset elections, but failed to enter the Knesset, as the party again won four seats.[8]
Following the announcement that Hadash leaderMohammed Barakeh was resigning prior to the2015 elections, Odeh was elected as the party's new leader.[8] In the buildup to the 2015 elections, Hadash joined theJoint List, an alliance of the main Arab parties. Odeh was placed at the head of the Joint List's electoral list. Analysts credited the charismatic Odeh for giving the Arab political union a more moderate, pragmatic face.[2][9][10] Odeh was elected to the20th Knesset, along with 12 other candidates from the Joint List.[11][12]
In an interview withThe Times of Israel, Odeh discussed the Joint List's social agenda, including a 10-year plan to tackle issues pertinent to the Arab sector, such as employment of women, rehabilitation of failing regional councils, recognition of unrecognizedBedouin communities in theNegev, public transportation in Arab towns, and eradication of violence. He also said he supported the right of the Jewish people toself-determination in Israel, adding that a Palestinian state should fulfill the same goals for Arab Palestinians.[9]
Odeh's campaign for the March 2015 elections had a "breakthrough moment" when, in a televised debate of candidates,Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, called Odeh a "Palestinian citizen" and said Odeh was not welcome in Israel. Odeh replied, "I am very welcome in my homeland. I am part of the nature, the surroundings, the landscape", contrasting his birth in Israel with Lieberman's immigration from the formerSoviet Union. Odeh is now viewed as a potential power broker given that Arab parties appear to be uniting to meet the government's requirement that parties meet a minimum threshold of votes to secure a place in the Knesset. Odeh has a style that contrasts with that of MKHaneen Zoabi, who is more confrontational. Odeh voices his willingness to work with Jewish partners, and he often quotesMartin Luther King Jr.[13]
In the2020 election, Odeh and the Joint List recommendedBenny Gantz for prime minister.[1]
Odeh had stated that he was "happy for the release of hostages and prisoners" following the2023 Gaza war ceasefire. A petition was created in January 2025 to expel him from the Knesset. After Odeh later said in a May speech that "Gaza has won and Gaza will win", the petition met the required number of signatures to move forward. It was brought forth in June 2025 by the Knesset House Committee, which was approved by 70 MKs (including 10 from the opposition). A Knesset vote in July to expel Odeh failed with 73 MKs in favor, 15 against and MKs fromUnited Torah Judaism,Blue and White and most ofYesh Atid abstaining. A threshold of 90 votes was needed for it to pass.[14]
Odeh says his service on Haifa City Council made it clear to him that Arabs and Jews must work together. He describes Haifa as "the most liberal multicultural yet homogenous city in Israel".[19]
Odeh has also expressed strong support for increasing recognition ofMizrahi culture andArab Jewish history in official Israeli and Palestinian discourses; in a widely cited speech to theKnesset plenum in July 2015, MK Odeh argued that the State of Israel has systematically discriminated against and suppressed the culture of Jews who immigrated to Israel from Arab and Muslim lands (who make up the majority of the Israeli population[citation needed]) in order to feed the idea of a natural separation between Jews and Arabs. He also argued that the large role played by Jews in forming historical and modern Arab culture (including famous Jews such as Rabbi David Buzaglo, who wrote Jewish religious poetry primarily in Arabic, and famous Jews who were popular in the Arab world in the mid-20th century, such asLeila Mourad), has been forgotten by Jews and Arabs alike due to the ideological elements of theArab–Israeli conflict, and the desire by Israel's elite to portray a Western image of Jews and of the country. Odeh called upon Jewish and Arab members of the Knesset alike to support a new Knesset committee (which he had joined as a member) lobbying for the re-emphasizing of the culture of Jews from Arab and Muslim lands.[citation needed] In that speech, Odeh summarized his position thus: "The culture of the Jews of Arab and Islamic countries is a shared Jewish and Arab culture. Because of this, the state has fought [against] it, and yet because of this [same reason], we must fight to strengthen it."[citation needed]
Odeh says, "We represent those who are invisible in this country, and we give them a voice. We also bring a message of hope to all people, not just to the Arabs, but to the Jews, too".[20]
In October 2015, Odeh gave support to the "unarmed Palestinian struggle". However, when asked about "throwing rocks, ... firebombs, and shooting at cars", Odeh responded that regarding throwing rocks, he supported theFirst Intifada.[21]
In February 2016, Odeh considered resigning from the Knesset to show his protest against a controversial MK suspension bill.[22]
Israel's internal intelligence agency, theShin Bet, has interrogated Odeh many times in the past. He said in an interview toThe New Yorker: "I was called three more times by the Shin Bet. They never hit me. But they succeeded in two things. I isolated myself from my friends—I became much more introverted. And I had the sense the Shin Bet was watching me no matter where I went. When I went to the bus station, and I saw some guy in sunglasses, I just assumed he was Shin Bet."[23]
A right-wing activist was arrested in February 2016 for making death threats against Odeh.[24]
On 18 January 2017, Odeh was allegedly shot by a sponge-tipped bullet in the forehead byIsrael Police as he protested against the demolition of homes in the Bedouin village ofUmm al-Hiran. The police initially claimed that he was hit by stones thrown by other protestors.[25] It later backtracked, claiming both that it had never stated that Odeh was hit by stones and that it didn't know what caused Odeh's head injury.[26]
The BritishForensic Architecture, led byEyal Weizman ofGoldsmiths, University of London, which analyzed video evidence of the incident strongly suspected that Odeh had been hit by a sponge-tipped bullet because 47 seconds of video had been redacted – precisely the time during which Odeh was injured.[27]
In November 2024, Odeh was ejected from the Knesset after accusing Prime Minister Netanyahu of being a "serial killer of peace". During his speech, Odeh recounted the story of a man whose rented apartment was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike while he was obtaining birth certificates for his newborn twins, killing both infants and their mother.[28] "What is your vision? A serial killer of peace?" Odeh said before being forcibly removed from the podium.[29][30]
On 22 May 2025, he condemned theGaza war and was again, forcefully dragged out of the Knesset.[31]
On 13 October 2025, during U.S. President Donald Trump's speech as part of his visit to the Knesset during theGaza peace plan, Odeh along with Knesset memberOfer Cassif held signs demanding Palestinian recognition, and called Trump a "terrorist". They were both forcefully removed from the Knesset.[32]
Police stated that Odeh's head injury was the result of stone throwing by protesters.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Leader ofHadash 2015–present | Incumbent |
| New office | Leader of theJoint List 2015–2019; 2019–present | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
