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Storm in Knesset as Zoabi calls Israeli soldiers “murderers”
A heated incident has taken place in the Knesset after a controversial MK called Israeli soldiers who were involved in the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010 “murderers”.
The comment made by Hanin Zoabi yesterday sparked a commotion, with MKs from various parties approaching the podium to remonstrate with her. When she refused to apologise on the instructions of the session’s chair, Zoabi was removed from the plenum, alongside several other MKs who were involved in the spat.
After the session, MKs Nachman Shai (Zionist Union) and Amir Ohana (Likud) filed complaints against Zoabi with the Knesset’s Ethics Committee, for degrading the dignity of the legislature. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had contacted Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit “in order to examine” the possibility of “impeaching Hanin Zoabi from the Knesset”. He said: “She has crossed the line… and has no place in the Knesset.” However, it is doubtful whether Israel’s courts would approve such action.
Zoabi was aboard the Mavi Marmara as fellow protestors attacked Israeli commandos who boarded the Gaza-bound ship. Ten Turkish citizens were killed in the incident, which precipitated the downgrading of Israel-Turkey relations until this week’s announcement of a reconciliation agreement. During a debate on the agreement in the Knesset yesterday, she took to the podium. In light of the compensation Israel has agreed to pay the families of those killed as part of the deal, Zoabi said she also wants an apology.
When heckled, she continued: “The IDF solders who murdered are the ones who need to apologise.”
Zoabi, who represents the Balad faction within the Joint Arab List, has a history of divisive Knesset activity. In 2014, she was banned by the Knesset Ethics Committee from attending plenum and committee sessions for six months, after claiming that those who had murdered three Jewish teenagers were not terrorists. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein also noted that Zoabi had encouraged Palestinians to take up “popular resistance” on a Hamas website.