Arab party leader Odeh questioned by police over October clash with Ben Gvir

Prominent opposition Arab lawmaker MK Ayman Odeh was questioned by police Tuesday over an altercation last year with a far-right lawmaker in a Rehovot hospital.

The Israel Police said it had summoned Odeh, head of the predominantly Arab Joint List party, as it investigates his October 19 clash with Religious Zionism MK Itamar Ben Gvir, who pressed assault charges against Odeh.

Police said they had received a complaint at the time of “assault of an elected official at the Kaplan Medical Center by another elected official.”

After receiving authorization, “today the MK was summoned for questioning and then released,” police said. “The outcome of the investigation will be forwarded for review and decisions by the professional bodies.”

Odeh went to Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot to see Miqdad Qawasmeh, a Hamas terror group member being held without charge who had been on a hunger strike for nearly three months. Odeh was said to be visiting Qawasmeh to offer his support, while Ben Gvir was said to have come at the same time to complain that Qawasmeh was being treated in an Israeli hospital.

Qawasmeh, the son of Hamas legislator Omar Qawasmeh, was held under a controversial legal procedure known as administrative detention, which allows Israeli authorities to hold prisoners without charges. The Shin Bet security service said Qawasmeh was being detained due to “Hamas activity,” declining to elaborate further.

Odeh and other Joint List MKs oppose administrative detention, and have frequently protested its use against Palestinians.

Video of the confrontation showed Odeh exiting Qawasmeh’s ward and encountering Ben Gvir, who was demanding to be let in. Odeh told Ben Gvir that he would not be permitted to enter the room. During an ensuing scuffle, Odeh shoved Ben Gvir, who then lunged toward him, but staff stepped in to separate the pair.

Ben Gvir later filed a police complaint against Odeh for assault and disorderly conduct.

Qawasmeh in November ended his hunger strike after being told he would be released in February.

Also Tuesday, Ben Gvir filed a complaint against police officers who he claims attacked him during his stay in the flashpoint Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem over the last few days.

The far-right lawmaker appeared to faint during a clash with police officers Sunday night, after vowing to stay in the neighborhood through the night. On Monday, a bandaged Ben Gvir returned to Sheik Jarrah and released an image of a letter from Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital discharging him from the emergency room and confirming that he had suffered a head injury.

Asked by reporters why he was wearing the dressing, Ben Gvir accused Public Security Minister Omer Barlev of instructing officers to rough him up.

Ben Gvir himself was summoned for a talk by the Knesset security chief in November after he waved a pistol the night before during an argument with Arab parking attendants in Tel Aviv who told him to move his vehicle from a prohibited spot.