The way MK Jida Rinawi Zoabi came to Meretz is very surprising in relation to the way she left.
Until the elections to the 24th Knesset, Zoabi was not a member of Meretz.
In the fourth round of elections, when Nitzan Horowitz wanted to prevent primaries for the party, he reserved Zoabi for another Arab woman slot over Yair Golan, in a decision that passed almost unanimously at the Meretz party conference.
Generally, an MK who is armored by the party chairman should serve him as an island of stability and loyalty within the party.
But in Zoabi's case, that was not the case.
Zoabi currently lives in the Galilee landscape.
Her husband is an engineer, and before joining Meretz she was involved in promoting Arab authorities in an association called the "Injaz Center" (achievement).
Zoabi with Horowitz.
Expressed opposition to the law banning conversion therapies, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Zoabi is not identified as religious, but already during the Knesset elections she caused a stir when she opposed Meretz's pro-LGBT line, and told the Arab media that she would refrain from supporting a law banning conversion therapies that was preceded by Horowitz, out of consideration for the conservative society from which she came.
Zoabi then surprised with another move that undermined the coalition when without updating anyone in advance, she voted last January against Ganz's recruitment law, and the law fell on first reading.
Lapid and Horowitz realized that Zoabi was a mine, and offered her to become consul in Shanghai in exchange for industrial quiet.
It now turns out that her appointment has run into difficulties in light of her past remarks on state symbols.
Apparently against the background of the fear of canceling the appointment, Zoabi decided to resign from the coalition.
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