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Ben-Gvir: Strip MK Odeh’s immunity over ‘Gaza victory’ chants

Arab-Israel parliamentarian Ayman Odeh sparked fury after chanting “Gaza will win” at a Haifa rally.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for an Arab-Israeli MK to be stripped of his parliamentary immunity and investigated by police for incitement, after the lawmaker appeared at a pro-Palestinian rally in Haifa and chanted in support of a “victory for Gaza.”

MK Ayman Odeh, who is the chair of the Hadash party, said at the rally on Saturday that “Gaza is winning and Gaza will win.”

The politician cited debunked figures about the civilian death toll in Gaza, citing disproven numbers from Hamas that even the terror group has admitted are exaggerated.

Odeh claimed that the ongoing conflict in the coastal enclave marked a “historic defeat for the right, which was beaten in Gaza.”

Israel is now an international “pariah state” due to the conflict, Odeh added.

Odeh’s statements constitute “blatant incitement to support terrorism,” Ben-Gvir wrote in a letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, adding that “in a normal country, a person who shouts ‘Gaza will win’ while terrorists are murdering Jews would be immediately questioned.”

The Knesset “cannot serve as a haven for supporters of terrorism,” Ben-Gvir added, writing that he demands the removal of Odeh’s parliamentary immunity to enable a police investigation.

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Yisrael Beitenu party chair Avigdor Liberman said in a statement that “anyone who says ‘Gaza is winning and will win,’ while our hostages are languishing in Hamas captivity and IDF soldiers are fighting for our security… should be in Gaza, not the Israeli Knesset.”

Despite collecting a salary paid by Israeli taxpayers, Odeh has a long history of vitriolic remarks against the Jewish State.

In January 2025, Odeh conflated the release of hostages kidnapped on October 7 with Palestinian prisoners convicted of terror offenses.

He wrote on X that he celebrated the release of both sides because “we were all born to be free.”