The coalition suffered another blow Jan. 17, when the draft reform bill failed to pass its first reading in the Knesset. It happened after Knesset member Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi from left-wing Meretz surprised everyone, including her own party, by voting against the bill and, by extension, against coalition discipline. Even the Muslim Ra’am party supported the bill, except for Knesset member Mazen Ghanaim, who was absent when the vote was taken. The coalition responded that it would resubmit the bill again with an exemption for people opposed to it, so that it can be voted on in the next few weeks.

While there was drama surrounding the outcome of the vote, the real drama took place earlier, when the leader of the Shas party Aryeh Deri (opposition) went up to the podium and threatened that if Ra’am voted for the proposed bill, Shas would petition the Supreme Court to take steps to introduce compulsory military service for Israel’s Arab citizens. Addressing Ra’am directly, Deri said, “You have no moral right to decide for Jews and the ultra-Orthodox, who will serve in the IDF and who will not! That is a red line!”

Even before the vote, Minister for Regional Cooperation Issawi Frej of Meretz tweeted, “I understand that there are ultra-Orthodox members of Knesset, who ask how we, the Arab members of Knesset, could vote for the draft reform bill, even though we do not serve in the army. I suggest that they ask themselves why they supported the nationality law even though it only hurt us, Israel’s Arab citizens.”

Ra’am party chairman Mansour Abbas responded to Deri the following day, in an interview with the Arab-language Mikan Radio. He said, “The ultra-Orthodox parties forget that they voted for the nationality law, the Kamenitz law [targeting illegal construction, widespread in Arab towns and villages] and other laws targeting the Arab society.”