Lawmaker Zoabi gets 6-month suspended sentence, fine for insulting cops
Arab MK gave up immunity, apologized as part of plea deal over 2014 incident; calls whole case ‘unneeded’
The Nazareth Magistrate’s Court sentenced Knesset member Hanin Zoabi Sunday to a suspended sentence of six months and a NIS 3,000 ($750) fine for insulting civil servants.
Zoabi, a Joint (Arab) List MK from the Balad faction, verbally assaulted Israel Police officers of Arab descent during riots that erupted in Nazareth after the kidnapping and murder of East Jerusalem teen Muhammed Abu Khdeir in July 2014.
She will be on parole for a period of three years.
Zoabi gave up her Knesset immunity as part of a plea deal and also apologized for the incident.
In July 2014, Zoabi called a group of Arab policemen traitors after protesting the detention of several youths during riots in Nazareth following the murder of Abu Khdeir.
When she saw a lawyer shaking the hand of one of the police officers escorting the detainees, she told him the cops’ hand should not be shaken and they should not be spoken with.
“You need to spit in their faces, those who testify against our sons and daughters, those who cooperate with the oppressor of their people, the floor should be wiped with them,” she said at the time.
Judge Lilly Yung-Geffer wrote in the verdict that “the fact that the defendant was emotionally upset cannot justify such harsh comments toward the cops, and an elected representative, of all people, should show more restraint and responsibility for the words coming out of her mouth.”
Zoabi said in response that the verdict and case as a whole was “unneeded.”
“I fight oppression by the regime. We are fighting against racist policies, not against private people, and this is why I apologized,” said the MK.
Zoabi and two other Balad MKs, Jamal Zahalka and Bassel Ghattas, are again under fire after having met last week with the relatives of Palestinian terrorists.
