‘The life of Palestinians citizens of Israel’ organised by Union Progressistes Juifs de Belgique.
Arab MK Haneen Zoabi confronted in Brussels
By Richard Mather
On May 28, the president of the Zionist Organisation of Belgium intervened at an event entitled ‘The life of Palestinians citizens of Israel.’ The event had been organised by Union Progressistes Juifs de Belgique (UPJB) and featured the highly controversial Arab MK Haneen Zoabi, who serves as a member of the Knesset for the Joint List.
During the proceedings, which took place at a Brussels location, Shimon Bretholz took the microphone and made the following statement:
“I present myself: My name is Shimon Bretholz, president of the Zionist Organisation of Belgium. I am hearing here a lot of things and I would like to correct something: Miss Zoabi did not go to visit the parents of an innocent boy in order to get his body back, she went to visit the parents of a terrorist.
“Mrs Zoabi is a parliamentarian at the Israeli Knesset. She has come here to boycott Israel while being a representative of the Israeli parliament. She is allowed to vote, she has accomplished two degrees in Israeli universities.
Haneen Zoabi
“Where are there any Arab women in any Arab countries that are able to achieve those things and to talk this way against the government that she represents. I am not going to stay here any longer as I know I don’t have many friends in here. I just wanted to come here to hear your bullshit and to tell you that fortunately you do not represent the Jewish community of Belgium.”
Shimon then announced he was leaving.
Shimon Bretholz, president of the Zionist Organisation of Belgium.
Zoabi asked Shimon to stay to listen to her answer but he refused. Members of the audience shouted, “Boycott Israel.”
Shimon responded with “Am Israel chai! The land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel!”
Zoabi has called for the dismantling of Israel as a Jewish state and describes the IDF as “more dangerous to the world” than Iran. In 2014, Zoabi was suspended from the Knesset plenum for a duration of six months after she appeared to justify the Palestinian kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers who were later found dead.
In 2010, in an interview with the left-wing publication New Statesman, Zoabi called on the West to engage with Hamas. “Hamas is not a terrorist organisation,” she said.
According to UPJB, ‘The life of Palestinians citizens of Israel’ formed part of the organisation’s “commitment for the respect of human rights everywhere in the world, and especially in Israel since its governments pretend to act in the name of Jewish people – a claim we vigorously deny them.”
The event was attended by sixty-eight people.
