“I am very wanted in my homeland. I am part of the scenery, part of the region. I resemble it.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Attacking innocent people is always obscene.”
― Ayman Odeh
“The Knesset members – Jews and Arabs – don’t represent the state of Israel. The government is the one that represents the state of Israel officially.”
― Ayman Odeh
“When I read Malcolm X, I didn’t agree with it all, but I inhaled it; I connected to his rage.”
― Ayman Odeh
“I have no doubt that the Palestinian Arab leadership made a mistake when it did not accept the partition plan in 1947, but I want to try to understand it.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Netanyahu personally is leading the campaign against the Arabs.”
― Ayman Odeh
“I agree with myself on 80 percent of things, but when I look at myself in the mirror in the morning, I still have inner debates about the right thing to do.”
― Ayman Odeh
“My people are from Haifa.”
― Ayman Odeh
“The struggle for equality is really a struggle for democracy, and that’s why it’s a struggle for all the population.”
― Ayman Odeh
“If you believe you’re a nation, then I accept you as a nation.”
― Ayman Odeh
“The U.S. is friends with dictatorial regimes, then invades places like Iraq and Afghanistan, and what happens afterwards is a catastrophe. In the place of their leaders, fundamentalist movements that use the name of Islam spring up, and all that’s left is terror and bloodshed.”
― Ayman Odeh
“If America would really stand behind the two-state solution, they could make real pressure on Israel.”
― Ayman Odeh
“I was a member of the Haifa City Council when I was 23 years old, which made me the youngest city councilman in Israel.”
― Ayman Odeh
“When I began my political career, I identified with Malcolm X.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Israel made peace with Egypt, the largest Arab State. There are militant Islamists there, but there is also law. There are agreements and also defense arrangements there.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Where there is law, and where there is government, there is security.”
― Ayman Odeh
“An Arab who works and pays taxes is good for everyone. An Arab who doesn’t work and receives social security stipends is bad for everyone.”
― Ayman Odeh
“The Right everywhere in the world gains more by forming a security agenda while the Left gains from a social agenda.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Just as Jews in the U.S. joined Martin Luther King, I’m sure hundreds of thousands of Jews will join the struggle for civil equality in Israel.”
― Ayman Odeh
“I can argue like a Marxist about whether there was a global Jewish nation 200 years ago or whether it was just a religion. But this really doesn’t matter.”
― Ayman Odeh
“I flee from symbols. I think those who don’t want to solve problems go to the symbols. I’m looking for content.”
― Ayman Odeh
“In reality, civil rights are more important than national rights. They’re the content, the day-to-day: work, life. But people are sensitive to national rights.”
― Ayman Odeh
“I remember, I used to get off a bus, and if there was someone sitting in the station, I remember thinking maybe they were from Shin Bet and came for me.”
― Ayman Odeh
“My goal is that Jews feel safe in their country.”
― Ayman Odeh
“There can’t be real peace without improving the integration of Arab society and making it part of the political game.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Maybe for you in America, Dr. King has become boring because you hear about him so much. But for me, he is the man who has most inspired me.”
― Ayman Odeh
“I do not put red lines on the Arab Palestinian nation.”
― Ayman Odeh
“I don’t accept the Zionist idea.”
― Ayman Odeh
“I am an elected official; I was not elected by the Right.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Only the public that elected me can dismiss me.”
― Ayman Odeh
“If Jews don’t come to Nazareth, Arabs don’t go to Afula. There is fear on both sides.”
― Ayman Odeh
“The Palestinian people choose how to fight against the occupation.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Every nation has a flag.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Al-Aksa is a religious and national symbol.”
― Ayman Odeh
“The Arab population does not want to turn inward and be isolated.”
― Ayman Odeh
“A popular intifada is most beneficial for the Palestinians.”
― Ayman Odeh
“I have a lot of warm feelings towards the Palestinian people.”
― Ayman Odeh
“I come from a place of loving people – all human people.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Abu Mazen has no more hope for Netanyahu’s approach. He’s searching for a way to establish the Palestinian state. He doesn’t want a militarized struggle with Israel.”
― Ayman Odeh
“I believe that the U.S. is the strongest country in the whole world and the country that supports Israel the most. I believe that it has the strength to push Israel towards peace.”
― Ayman Odeh
“No one is speaking about the Arab citizens of Israel.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Occupation is the Palestinian people’s tragedy, but also Israel’s present. We must liberate both people from the occupation.”
― Ayman Odeh
“We in the Joint List are living proof that Arabs and Jews refuse to be enemies.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Our beautiful homeland is enough for us, Arabs and Jews. If we turn her into a battlefield, she will spit us out.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Incitement and anti-Arab hatred increased significantly during the Gaza conflict.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Arabs don’t have to be the victims of the Jewish war between Lieberman and Netanyahu.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Israel cannot be a democracy if it occupies land of other people.”
― Ayman Odeh
“According to Netanyahu, he should rule like a Caesar, and the Knesset should be run by the tyranny of the majority.”
― Ayman Odeh
“A man who dies, no matter how terrible his crime was, must be brought to burial.”
― Ayman Odeh
“The al-Aqsa compound is occupied territory that, as per the status quo, is administered by the King of Jordan and the Muslim Waqf.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Martin Luther King fought for blacks, and democratic whites were with him.”
― Ayman Odeh
“Eventually, I moved from a place of anger toward the Jews of Israel toward a place of embrace.”
― Ayman Odeh
“My biggest goal became to bring the weight of and the voice of the Arabs into the Israeli political sphere.”
― Ayman Odeh
“I am not some intellectual hoping to be understood a century from now. I’m a political leader. I have to stand in front of my community. If I am a metre too far out in front of the people, I’ll lose them.”
― Ayman Odeh
Leave a Reply