Meretz Candidate Under Fire for Flip-flopping on LGBTQ Rights Ahead of Election

Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, the No. 4 candidate on the Meretz list, said in an interview in Arabic that she would abstain on a bill prohibiting so-called “conversion therapy,” then reversed herself and said she would support the bill, sponsored by Meretz chairman Nitzan Horowitz. Horowitz issued a statement saying Rinawie Zoabi’s comments “were made mistakenly.” In an interview with the Kul al-Arab website, Rinawie Zoabi said Meretz supports the right of every person to live as they please but added that she plans to take into consideration the feelings of the society she comes from. Asked what she would do if the bill to prohibit conversion therapy was brought to a vote, she replied: “I will abstain, I won’t act like the Joint List. (Three members of Hadash voted in favor of the bill on a preliminary reading.)