Supreme Court rejects MK Zoabi appeal against Knesset ban

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by MK Hanin Zoabi Wednesday that sought to overturn a Knesset decision banning her from all parliamentary discussions for six months over provocative media statements.

The Knesset’s vote on Monday to dissolve itself also played a key role in the court’s decision not to intervene in the Ethics Committee’s decision to bar Zoabi, the ruling read. The decision was reached with a 4-1 majority, with Christian Arab justice Salim Joubran representing the sole dissenting voice.

“The penalty imposed is indeed unusually severe compared to penalties imposed in the past,” the five-judge panel wrote in its decision Wednesday. “However, given the circumstances of the matter, the petitioner’s harsh statements and their timing, and since a significant portion of the punishment falls on recess time, we did not see it fit to intervene in the broad discretion of the Ethics Committee.”

The Knesset’s Ethics Committee decided in July to sanction Zoabi for an interview given to Tel Aviv Radio on June 12, following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers south of Jerusalem.

Speaking before the fate of the three was known, Zoabi told interviewer Sharon Gal that she did not consider the kidnappers to be terrorists, but rather “people who see no other way to change their reality.”

In a separate article published on her party’s website, also weighed by the Knesset’s Ethics Committee, Zoabi called for “a siege” to be placed on Israel and for an end to peace talks and Palestinian security coordination with it.

Zoabi said the ruling reflected the atmosphere of “political interrogation” that characterized the hearing on Tuesday, in a response posted on Facebook Wednesday evening,

“Our presence in the Israeli parliament is a right, not a favor granted by anyone,” she wrote. “We did not enter [the Knesset] to fulfill certain expectations, nor to coordinate our positions with ‘the Israeli ear’ or with judges who seemed to compete with the atmosphere of incitement in the Knesset.”

“I believe in my people’s right to struggle, and am completely convinced that Israel will not recognize the rights of my Palestinian people out of self-conviction. We require a persistent struggle, the exertion of international pressure and a political siege to force Israel to change its aggressive policies. Without this, there is no room for just peace.”

Zoabi’s defense team told the Supreme Court Tuesday that the Balad MK did not advocate violence against Israelis but was merely calling for diplomatic isolation and peaceful resistance. It argued that such calls fell within the parliamentarian’s right to freedom of expression, and were not an ethical matter subject to the parliament’s jurisdiction.

Arab rights group Adalah, which represented Zoabi in the case, said the court ruling created “a dangerous precedent.”

“For the first time, the court asserts that the majority can judge the minority simply based on political utterances; and even place extreme sanctions such as removal from Knesset and committee meetings for six months,” its statement read. “This precedent threatens the protection given to members of Knesset for their political freedom of speech. From now on, practically speaking, Arab MKs will be subjected to political adjudication by the Jewish majority.”

A number of Knesset members expressed satisfaction with the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Shas leader Aryeh Deri wrote on Facebook Wednesday that Zoabi’s statements over the past few years, and especially during Operation Protective Edge, have “no place in the Knesset.”

“It is inconceivable that a person justifying acts of terror against Israel should represent its citizens in the Knesset,” Deri wrote.

Likud MK Danny Danon quoted Justice Esther Hayut wondering in court how Zoabi, who professes nonviolence, could justify the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in June. “This is the beginning of the end,” Danon cryptically wrote on Facebook.