The Knesset Ethics Committee has decided to ban three MKs from the Joint (Arab) List faction from parliamentary activity for 2-4 months over a visit to families of terrorists at which they observed a moment of silence for slain Palestinian attackers, Channel 2 News reports.
Joint (Arab) List MKs Hanin Zoabi (center), Jamal Zahalka (right) and Basel Ghattas (center left, behind Zoabi) speak with the press in Jerusalem on February 17, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
Hanin Zoabi and Basel Ghattas are banned for four months and Jamal Zahalka for two months, according to the report.
They will still be allowed to participate in Knesset votes.
All three veteran parliamentarians from the Balad Party, which merged into the Joint (Arab) List before the last election, visited families of Palestinian assailants killed during attacks in a bid to secure the release of their bodies for burial.
They observed a moment of silence for the attackers at the meeting.
The incident drew widespread condemnation after it was reported last week.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to push through legislation that could see lawmakers suspended from the Knesset over ethical violations if 90 MKs agree to it.
Earlier in the day, Netanyahu defended the measure in the Knesset plenum.
During his speech, Zahalka yelled out that the prime minister was “a fascist.”
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