Netanyahu, Lapid butt heads over how to punish suspect MK
Likud-led effort seeks to impeach Joint List MK, while Yesh Atid leader favors removing his immunity to allow criminal probe; PM: This is proof Lapid's 'a leftist'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took advantage of the political firestorm surrounding accusations of security offenses by an Arab Knesset member on Monday to attack the man polls have indicated could be prove a serious challenger to his leadership of the country — centrist Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid.
Following accusations that Joint (Arab) List MK Basel Ghattas smuggled cellphones — and possibly intelligence — to Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jail, Environment Minister Ze’ev Elkin of Likud on Monday started a petition among lawmakers to enact the recently legislated impeachment law and start proceedings to expel Ghattas from the Knesset.
Lapid has warned that impeachment could drag on for years and face various court petitions and appeals. Preferring a different approach, Lapid told his faction Monday that he would seek to have Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit remove Ghattas’s immunity in order to allow a criminal probe to proceed — a process he claimed would be far quicker than impeachment.
Netanyahu told a faction meeting Monday afternoon that he would gladly sign Elkin’s petition.
“I heard that Yair Lapid has instructed the members of his party not to sign,” he said. “Now, this doesn’t surprise me. It’s disappointing, but it’s not surprising…We are talking about a leftist who stands at the head of a leftist party.”
Lapid, he said, “is attempting to hide this simple fact, but the simple truth — that Yair Lapid is leading…a left-wing party — has been revealed for all to see.
Recent surveys of Israeli voters have shown Lapid’s Yesh Atid either tied with or surpassing Netanyahu’s Likud if elections were held today.
Yesh Atid scoffed at Netanyahu’s comments, saying the prime minister regularly referred to all those he disagreed with as leftists.
“Every time the prime minister and his ministers are unable to handle reality, they turn to the same old idiotic and pitiful trick,” the party said.
Netanyahu said of the suspicions against Ghattas that if proven true, “this is a very severe offense against national security and the security of the nation’s people. Whoever damages national security should be severely punished. And whoever identifies with those who wish to destroy Israel has no place in the Knesset.”
The head of the Joint (Arab) List acknowledged Monday that the accusations against Ghattas were “very serious,” but cautioned that the case should be handled by authorities and not by politicians, and noted that Ghattas should be considered innocent until proven guilty.
“The accusations leveled against MK Basel Ghattas in the media are very serious, and for this reasons must be evaluated by an investigation, and not in a drumhead court-martial led by Knesset members,” Ayman Odeh said in a statement. “The presumption of innocence is the right of every person until proven guilty, and thus the bid to prematurely pass judgement on Ghattas is prohibited.”
Odeh claimed the suspicions had led to a “cynical and ugly attempt to make use of the situation in order to incite against the entire Arab public, and to attempt to hinder the rights and immunity of Knesset members.”
According to a law that was passed in June, the impeachment process can be initiated if 70 Knesset members — 10 of whom must be from the opposition — file a complaint with the Knesset speaker against any lawmaker who supports an armed struggle against Israel or incites to racial hatred.
The Knesset House Committee would then debate the complaint before clearing it with a three-quarter majority in the committee. The motion to dismiss the lawmaker would then be sent to the plenum, where, if 90 of the 120 Knesset members vote in favor, the MK would be ousted. The deposed lawmaker could then appeal the decision with the Supreme Court.
Ghattas is a member of the Balad Party, which is part of the Knesset’s Joint (Arab) List and has three of their 13 seats. At the time, the impeachment bill was being discussed Joint (Arab) List chairman Odeh threatened to quit the Knesset if the bill was signed into law.