Likud minister blasts ‘traitor’ Arab MKs for Hezbollah support

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, a senior member of the ruling Likud party, slammed two Arab Israeli parties Monday over what he said was their support for the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah in its ongoing clash with Saudi Arabia.

Hadash and Balad, two parties that are among the factions of the mostly Arab Joint List in the Knesset, published condemnations Monday of Sunni Arab states that last week designated Shiite Hezbollah a terror organization. Both parties argued that the move serves Israel.

The blacklisting of Hezbollah, announced last Wednesday by the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, came amid the continued deterioration of relations between Hezbollah’s Shiite backer Iran and Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia. Gulf monarchies had already sanctioned Hezbollah in 2013 in reprisal for its armed intervention in Syria in support of embattled President Bashar Assad.

Hadash, which is helmed by Joint List leader MK Ayman Odeh, denounced the blacklisting, which it said came “in the service of occupation and the continued occupation of Arab land.” Hadash backs the continued rule of Assad in Syria.

Balad — another of the four parties constituting the Joint List — followed Hadash’s lead, posting a condemnation of the Gulf Cooperation Council on its website on Monday afternoon. “Even if there is criticism of its activities, there is no justification to condemn the organization,” Balad said of Hezbollah.

In response, Katz called Odeh and Balad head MK Jamal Zahalka “traitors,” saying it was “unbelievable that members of Knesset seek to sabotage Israel’s interests.

“Go join [fugitive former Balad leader] Azmi Bishara in Qatar, or in Syria — that’s where traitors belong,” Katz was quoted as saying in a statement released from his office.

He said he appealed to the Knesset Ethics Committee to examine the statements and take disciplinary steps against the lawmakers.

Hezbollah is openly committed to destroying Israel, and has an estimated 100,000-plus rockets and missiles aimed at the Jewish state.

Former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman, who leads the Yisrael Beytenu party, slammed Arab lawmakers as “representatives of the worst extremists in the whole Arab world.”

Yesh Atid MK Yaakov Peri called the statements “unfortunate.” In an interview with Channel 2, he said they reflected a deep divide among Israel’s Arabs over the conflict in Syria, between secularists who back Assad’s continued rule and religious Muslims who oppose Assad.

Balad MKs recently made headlines for visiting the families of Palestinian terrorists. The lawmakers maintained they were simply helping the families retrieve the attackers’ bodies from Israel for burial, but a video of the three MKs ostensibly observing a moment of silence sparked widespread Israeli outrage, and prompted the coalition to draft a controversial bill to allow lawmakers to suspend their colleagues.

Former MK Bishara led Balad until he fled Israel in 2007 amid suspicions that he provided information to Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Bishara has denied the allegations, and says he will not return to Israel as he does not believe he will receive a fair trial. Bishara currently resides in Doha, Qatar.

Odeh has also recently courted controversy, on February 29 accusing Israel of murdering former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

AFP contributed to this report.