Likud MK tells colleague she’s too ugly to be a prostitute
Scandal-plagued Oren Hazan again derides female lawmakers, tells Michal Biran in heated Knesset debate ‘nobody would even look at you’
Scandal-dogged Likud lawmaker Oren Hazan again derided female colleagues on Tuesday, this time in a heated Knesset committee debate that sparked accusations of misogyny and calls for his resignation.
After Zionist Union MK Michal Biran openly disagreed with Hazan, he suggested she work as a prostitute before quickly telling her that “nobody would even look at you.”
Hazan, who entered the Knesset in the last election, has become known as the enfant terrible of Israel’s parliament.
Shortly after he went into politics, Channel 2 News reported that Hazan had hired prostitutes for his friends and taken crystal meth while managing a casino in Bulgaria in 2013. He sued journalist Amit Segal for libel but the court rejected the bulk of the lawsuit, saying the report amounted to “responsible, serious journalism and reflected the reality as it was.”
Since his election to the Knesset two years ago, Hazan has been indicted for assault, publicly mocked a disabled colleague and has been temporarily banned from the Knesset twice over various wrongdoings.
On Tuesday, Hazan clashed with two female colleagues after an apparent disagreement at the Finance Committee meeting.
During the increasingly heated heated debate, Hazan told Kulanu MK Rachel Azaria that he “could teach her a thing or two.”
Zionist Union MK Michal Biran interjected saying that Azaria “could do without your expertise in running a casino.”
“I wouldn’t even let you deal cards,” Hazan shot back at the two.
“You’re a pimp, and its a shame that you are a Knesset member,” Biran responded.
“Well, let me get you an a job application, even though I don’t think anyone would even look at you,” he told Biran.
Azaria accused Hazan of being a “rude chauvinist,” and demanded he be quiet.
After the incident, Biran filed a complaint against Hazan with the Knesset Ethics Committee, saying that Hazan’s “humiliating and sexist behavior” amounted to sexual harassment.
“I expect the committee to take the incident seriously and take the necessary steps to punish the MK and warn against the recurrence of such events,” she wrote in her complaint.
Azaria also criticized Hazan for his behavior, saying the controversial lawmaker “systematically damages the public’s trust in lawmakers, and called for him to be fired.
In August Hazan was reprimanded — not for the first time — by the Knesset’s Ethics Committee for insults against female lawmakers, with the panel warning that repeat offenses could land him a lengthy suspension.
Last December, the Committee temporarily suspended Hazan from participating in parliamentary debates, due to a series of complaints against him. Three months later, was again suspended from committee hearings, this time by his own Likud party after he skipped a plenum vote resulting in a loss for the party.
