Firebrand Knesset member Hanin Zoabi of the Joint (Arab) List apologizes for calling Arab policemen traitors during a demonstration in Nazareth last year.
“My remarks came against a backdrop of harsh arrests,” she says in a statement, adding that she was “upset” at the time and that the things she said “are not representative of my style or my way.”
Knesset Member Hanin Zoabi (Balad) in the Knesset. (photo credit: Flash90)
Zoabi adds, “I had no intention of insulting anyone. I’m sorry I said those things and apologize to anyone who was hurt by them.”
The apology was part of a plea bargain with the State Attorney’s Office by which Zoabi also agreed to admit to insulting a public official and pay a NIS 3,000 fine.
Thus, she avoided more serious incitement charges over the July 2014 incident, during which she accused an Arab police officer of treason against his people, a statement interpreted by officials as a call for violence against Arab-Israeli police officers.
The incident took place outside the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court, during the trial of Arabs who had been arrested at riots sparked by the murder of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir by Jewish terrorists.
— Tamar Pileggi contributed
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