Man arrested for Facebook threat to Arab MK’s life
Post to Ahmad Tibi was one of many threats sent lately, associates say; Knesset panel bans Tibi from running sessions for 2 weeks after he booted minister from plenum
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An Israeli man was arrested and interrogated by the police after threatening MK Ahmad Tibi (Joint List) on Facebook on Tuesday.
The man, 24 years old from Rosh Ha’ayin in central Israel, was arrested shortly after posting a message on Tibi’s Facebook page in which he said, “I will be very soon be the one to kill you Ahmad… and in your tomb there will be the head of a pig instead of a mirror for your real face, you dog.”
“Your time is short Ahmed, enjoy it while you can,” the man wrote.
Tibi did not publicly comment on the threat. His associates told the Hebrew-language paper Ynet that “since the incitement of the minister Elkin against him and of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu against Arab MKs there has been a marked increase in threats against him and against other Arab MKs.”
The associates were referring to an incident two weeks ago, when Tibi ordered Likud’s Immigration and Absorption Minister Ze’ev Ellkin expelled from the plenum after Elkin accused Arab parliamentarians — and Tibi in particular — of bearing responsibility for the ongoing wave of Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and security forces.
Tibi is also deputy Knesset speaker and was running the session that day. There are eight deputies to the Knesset speaker and they run sessions in the speaker’s place on a rotational basis.
When Elkin took to the podium to respond on behalf of the government during a debate, he directed comments at Tibi, who was filling in for Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein.
“It is important to understand why the wave of terror is happening,” Elkin said and charged that Tibi “and people like you” are “spreading lies in the full knowledge of what Israel is doing on the Temple Mount.”
“You are not the sovereign here Ahmad, and you never will be,” Elkin charged. Tibi, on his side, said Elkin’s comments were “unprecedented.”
Tibi then told Elkin that if he wouldn’t not “take these words back, I will remove you from the podium.”
Both Tibi and Elkin appeared before the Knesset’s Ethics Committee on Tuesday, due to the incident two weeks ago. They filed complaints against each other to the committee.
Tibi was given a two-week ban on running Knesset plenum sessions. Elkin was reprimanded by the committee.
Tibi’s associates said the decision to suspend him was indicative of the current atmosphere.
MKs at the Ethics Committee said the reason Tibi received a harsher punishment was because Elkin’s record with the committee was clean, while Tibi had been called before the committee in the past.
The Times of Israel Community.