Knesset Ethics Committee reprimanded MK Oren Hazan and Joint (Arab) List MK Hanin Zoabi, seen here (center), confronted by fellow lawmakers in the Knesset plenum over her comments on the Israel-Turkey reconciliation agreement on June 29, 2016 (screen capture: YouTube)
Joint List lawmaker censured for calling IDF soldiers ‘murderers,’ Likud MK for stoking flames of uproar in response
MKs Hanin Zoabi and Oren Hazan were reprimanded by the Knesset Ethics Committee Monday for their behavior during a parliamentary session on June 29 in which Zoabi called IDF soldiers murderers.
Joint (Arab) List lawmaker Zoabi enraged members of the parliament when she took the podium, ostensibly to apologize for her participation in the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla, which tried to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip, but instead demanded MKs apologize to the victims.
“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.”
Joint List party member Hanin Zoabi seen at the Israeli Knesset during a plenum session in the assembly hall on July 11, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
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.
During her speech, she was vociferously berated in the plenum by lawmakers who attempted to approach the podium and have her removed. Likud MK Oren Hazan was among the first to begin shouting at Zoabi, calling her an accomplice to terrorism and saying, “Your friends are murderers! Go to Gaza!”
Zoabi’s comments came a day after Israel signed a deal with Turkey to restore ties following 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.
Likud MK Oren Hazan holds a press conference in the Knesset on October 12, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
In its criticism of Hazan and Zoabi, the Ethics Committee said Monday that the incident in the plenum “harmed the honor and prestige of the Knesset.” Four other MKs were cited for refusing to return to their seats: Micky Levy, Hilik Bar, Aliza Lavie and Nava Boker.
The committee ruled that Zoabi’s comments were “at the very least on the border of political free speech of members of Knesset.”
“However, because of the broad freedom of political expression MKs enjoy, together with the fact that the disturbances to her speech didn’t actually allow her to complete a sentence or an organized argument from the moment she took the podium, there are no grounds to increase her punishment at this time for her remarks themselves,” the committee said.
At the same time, it found that she had violated to ethics rules by saying she would apologize and not doing so, as well as repeating her earlier remarks.
As for Hazan: The committee said that he had “incited the brouhaha” and kept the uproar going in violation of every standard.
Source: Knesset reprimands Zoabi, Hazan for plenum brouhaha | The Times of Israel
