PM seeks A-G’s aid to oust Arab MK who called IDF troops ‘murderers’
Netanyahu says Hanin Zoabi ‘crossed all red lines’ after her remarks on commandos in 2010 raid caused near riot in Knesset
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has turned to Israel’s top law enforcement official in a bid to oust controversial Joint (Arab) List MK Hanin Zoabi from the Knesset.
“I spoke with the attorney general [Avichai Mandelblit] this evening in order to explore ways to expel Hanin Zoabi from the Knesset,” Netanyahu said in a statement Wednesday night.
Zoabi caused a firestorm earlier Wednesday after she branded IDF soldiers involved in a May 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla “murderers,” and demanded they apologize.
Her comments in the Knesset plenum led to angry shouts from other lawmakers, who attempted to approach the podium and demanded that she be removed from the lectern.
Zoabi took part in the 2010 flotilla from Turkey that tried to break the Israeli blockade on the Hamas-run coastal enclave.
Nine Turkish nationals, including one with American citizenship, were killed in clashes that erupted when IDF commandos were violently attacked by those on board the Mavi Marmara, the final ship in the flotilla, and opened fire. A tenth Turkish national died of his wounds years later. A number of Israeli soldiers were also injured in the raid. Zoabi was on board the Turkish-flagged vessel at the time.
“I demand an apology for all the political activists on the Marmara and an apology to MK Hanin Zoabi, for inciting against her for six years and hounding her. You all need to apologize, all of the members of Knesset here,” Zoabi said. “Those who murdered need to apologize, you need to apologize.”
In his Wednesday statement, Netanyahu said, “in her actions and her lies, [Zoabi] has crossed all red lines and there is no place for her in the Knesset.”
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Wednesday evening branded Zoabi a terrorist, writing on Facebook that, “IDF soldiers will continue to fight against terrorists on sea, air and land — and that includes terrorists traveling at sea who are members of Knesset.”
Zoabi’s comments came a day after Israel signed a reconciliation deal with Turkey to restore ties, after years of frosty relations exacerbated by the raid. The deal provides for Israel to pay Turkey $20 million compensation over the Marmara raid, a point objected to by some Israeli politicians.
Zoabi’s statements were met by howls from several members of Knesset, including MK Micky Levi (Yesh Atid), who charged toward the podium in outrage to berate her.
“Your friends are murderers, you’re a partner to terrorism,” Likud MK Oren Hazan screamed at her. “You’re out of line. Don’t use this podium to speak against IDF soldiers!”
“You murdered! Shut up!” Zoabi replied.
Yesh Atid MK Aliza Lavie called on Zoabi to knock it off, to which Zoabi replied: “Come knock me out.”
Yisrael Beytenu MK Hamad Amar, who chaired the plenary session, said Zoabi “lied to me.”
Zoabi requested permission to speak because she wanted to apologize, said Amar. “She lied.”
In a bid to quiet the hubbub, Amar ordered security to escort several MKs out of the plenum, including Zoabi, Zionist Union MK Micky Rosenthal and Meretz party leader Zehava Galon.
Yesh Atid MK Levi, a former chief of the Jerusalem Police, said after the stormy session that while Zoabi was speaking, he was thinking of the dozens of IDF officers and Air Force pilots who were sitting in the visitors’ gallery as they toured the Knesset, “and were forced to listen to this defamation, to this humiliation. These are our children, our sons. I couldn’t let it go on, and I demanded that her inciting rhetoric be stopped.”
Levi echoed Netanyahu’s comments, saying Zoabi “is not worthy of a seat in Israel’s Knesset.” He called on the Knesset Ethics Committee to examine her behavior and “remove her from the plenum.”
Knesset members cannot legally be prevented from casting votes in the plenum, nor can they be expelled from the parliament except by being stripped of their immunity following a criminal conviction.
Even after her departure from the plenum Wednesday, Zoabi’s remarks continued to trigger enraged responses from other lawmakers.
“IDF soldiers are the children of all of us, to call them murderers is an abomination,” opposition leader Isaac Herzog wrote on Twitter. “Another reason why we ought not to have agreed to compensate those who attacked the soldiers.”
Fellow Zionist Union MK Nahman Shai called on the Ethics Committee to suspend Zoabi.
Likud MK and Coalition Chairman David Bitan said he would put forward a bill to bar Zoabi from the Knesset, though he did not explain how the legislation would achieve this.
“She regularly causes provocations, and we can’t continue with this ritual,” he told Army Radio. “She should be allowed to be a martyr, but not in the Knesset. She doesn’t interest us, we are interested in her not sitting in the Knesset and causing provocation.”
Zoabi has refused to apologize for her comments.
