Meretz chief removed from Knesset for calling lawmaker ‘messed up’

Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-on was removed from the Knesset plenum Monday evening for calling an Yisrael Beytenu legislator “messed up” during a heated debate over proposed legislation that seeks to expand the definition of a “security detainee.”

During the debate, the left-wing Gal-on referred to other legislation proposed by freshman Knesset member Sharon Gal that would impose the death penalty on terrorists convicted of murder, saying “Any messed-up person proposes a bill and you all align yourselves with it.”

Knesset Speaker and Zionist Union MK Yoel Hasson, who was chairing the discussion, asked Gal-on to apologize for her remarks. When she refused, he asked her to step down from the plenum.

Again, Gal-on refused and Hasson had ushers throw her out of the plenum.

Other Meretz MKs loudly voiced objection to her removal and began shouting at Hasson for removing Gal-on.

After Hasson called the rowdy MKs to order three times to no avail, he called for the remaining Meretz MKs to be removed as well.

Hasson said name-calling was unacceptable and embarrassing.

In response to the incident, Gal said he was not offended by Gal-on’s insult and said sarcastically her remarks were an example of the “enlightened and liberal left.”

Gal-on responded by saying her insult “was a compliment compared to what I think of you.”

While Meretz and Yisrael Beytennu are both in the opposition, the parties are on opposite ends of the political spectrum and do not agree on most issues.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shelved Gal’s bill until it could be sufficiently examined from a legal perspective.

The proposed legislation would make it easier for military and district courts to sentence to death those convicted of murder with nationalist motives.

Netanyahu tasked an interparty commission led by senior Likud MK Yariv Levin to scrutinize the law before formulating coalition policy.

Until then, Netanyahu said, Likud lawmakers are to vote against the act, which was to be up for debate Sunday at the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which gives government support to bills being proposed in the Knesset.

The bill already has the support of Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, Culture Minister Miri Regev, Science Minister Danny Danon, Minister of Immigrant Absorption Ze’ev Elkin and Minister Ofir Akunis.

Regev, Danon and Akunis all belong to Netanyahu’s Likud party.

But even if the bill passed the committee, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein indicated he would nix it on legal grounds — or at least postpone it indefinitely, until the state prosecutor hands down a ruling on the legality of such a law.

Even though capital punishment is technically legal in Israel, it has only been practiced once, in 1962, when high-ranking Nazi SS officer Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death for his role in orchestrating the Holocaust.

The bill proposes that convicted terrorists can be sentenced to death with a simple majority of judges, rather than the unanimous decision required under current law.

The death penalty bill was a key election promise of Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman. Gal, the lawmaker who proposed the bill, said that the party had made a promise to voters, “and we’re determined to make it happen. We must change the current situation and eradicate terrorism,” he said.

“Death sentences will strengthen Israel’s deterrence. It is moral and ethical to legislate it in order to save the lives of our citizens. It has broad support among the people — it’s clear to everyone that it’s a law that must pass,” he added.