Police to probe Arab former lawmaker for alleged incitement
Heba Yazbak says she was summoned for questioning but not told what investigation is about; ex-Balad MK previously praised terrorist who killed Israelis
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A former Arab Israeli lawmaker of the Balad party is to be investigated by police for alleged incitement, Channel 12 News reported on Sunday.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has approved the probe of Heba Yazbak, police sources told the broadcaster.
Yazbak confirmed the investigation but said that she doesn’t know what it is about.
A statement on behalf of Yazbak said: “Last week police approached me and notified me that I am being summoned for investigation, without specifying the subject of the investigation. An interview date was set for tomorrow [Monday]. At this stage, I have nothing to add.”
The Balad party itself also confirmed the upcoming probe to Channel 12.
Balad, along with Hadash, Ta’al, and the Arab Democratic Party, is a member of the Joint List alliance of predominantly Arab parties in the Knesset.
Yazbak was an MK in 2019-2020 but failed to be reelected in the March 2021 election, as she was seventh on the Balad slate and the party only won six seats.
Following a petition filed against her, the Knesset elections committee in January 2020 decided to disqualify her candidacy, but the ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court, which adopted Mandelblit’s position that Yazbak should not be barred.
Israel’s election laws ban anyone who openly supports armed conflict against Israel, or incites racism, from running for Knesset.
Yazbak faced specific criticism over two Facebook posts: one in 2015 in praise of Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, who in 1979 took part in the brutal murder of members of an Israeli family in the northern city of Nahariya; and another that welcomed the end of a nine-year sentence for Amir Makhoul, who pleaded guilty to hand over sensitive information to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
Yazbak was also criticized for statements she made that some have read as condoning violence against Israeli soldiers.
The Balad party has come under repeated criticism for statements made by some of its parliamentarians and candidates. Other Balad politicians who have faced intense criticism include former MK Basel Ghattas, who smuggled phones to terror convicts in Israeli prisons. Balad chief Sami Abou Shehadeh himself has come under fire for awarding certificates to freed Palestinian prisoners, including one alleged to have planned violent terror attacks against Israelis.
The Times of Israel Community.