Jewish Home lawmaker Bezalel Smotrich calls for David Grossman to be stripped of his Israel Prize for literature, which he is to be awarded tomorrow, claiming that the author had accused IDF soldiers of committing war crimes.
“I really, really did not want (to have to do this) today. But I have no choice,” tweets the MK. “There are lines that you do not cross.”
“One can criticize and even condemn the government and its leaders, but it is forbidden to slander IDF soldiers on Memorial Day and accuse them of killing innocent civilians — a blatant lie.”
Speaking at a joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day service Tuesday evening, Grossman told the crowd of nearly 8,000 that Israel feels like “less of of a home” after “Israeli snipers kill[ed] dozens of Palestinian demonstrators, most of them civilians,” during protests on the Gaza border over the past month.
Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich speaks during an Interior Affairs committee meeting at the Knesset, January 1, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
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From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
