Knesset revokes Arab MK Haneen Zoabi’s parliamentary privileges

21.7.2010

                                                                                  

“slippery and dangerous slope that will end in the tyranny of the majority” says Speaker of the Knesset

Haifa, 21 July 2010 – In a 34 to 16 vote in the Knesset Plenum last July 13, 2010, MK Hanin Zoabi was stripped of her Parliamentary privileges for having been aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.  Early in June the Knesset House Committee proposed to deny MK Zoabi’s right to hold a diplomatic passport, to have the Knesset cover legal fees in case of criminal prosecution, and to enjoy parliamentary privileges when abroad.  Tuesday’s vote occurs only one week before the Knesset summer recess, following weeks of delay, and while a decision has yet to be made by Attorney General Yehuda on criminal charges against MK Zoabi.*

During the tense Knesset plenary session, several Jewish MKs verbally assaulted MK Zoabi, calling her a ‘traitor’, with MK Yariv Levin, head of the Knesset House Committee, telling her: “you don’t belong in the Israeli Knesset; you don’t deserve to hold an Israeli ID card. You’re an embarrassment to the citizens of Israel […]”. MK Anastassia Michaeli of Yisrael Beiteinu handed MK Zoabi a fake Iranian passport with her picture telling her to use it in her incitement tours since her “Israeli passport will be revoked this evening.” In a more general attack against Palestinian citizens in Israel, Deputy Minister Gila Gamliel (Likud) asked: “I hear MK Zoabi defining herself as a Palestinian and I ask – if you are a Palestinian, why are you a member of the Israeli Knesset?” and MK Ofir Akunis informed Arab MK Ahmad Tibi that “We’ll deal with your presence in the Knesset later”.

These verbal attacks follow the indictments of MK Mohammed Barakeh at the end of 2009 and MK Said Naffaa early in 2010, and are part of the veritable witch-hunt against Arab Members of the Knesset since the election of the 18^th Knesset. The targeting of Arab MKs has increased with the attacks on the ‘Gaza Freedom Flotilla”, after which several Arab MKs received death threats. Ahmad Tibi received a message saying “Your days are numbered, you dirty Arab. You will meet a miserable end. Your days are numbered – you and all the Arabs, Taleb al-Sana, you will die.”

Earlier this year, MK Danny Danon had presented a bill –now referred to as the “Zoabi bill” – to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation that would enable the Knesset to remove an MK from office in mid-term if it thought that the MKs speech or actions negated the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incited to racism or supported armed struggle by an enemy state or terror group, against the State of Israel.

However, several Arab and Jewish MKs voiced complaints about the decision to revoke MK Zoabi’s parliamentary privileges, saying that it was a danger to the Israeli democracy.  Reuven Rivlin, Speaker of the Knesset, had already warned last May against attacks targeting Arab MKs, saying: “limiting the freedom of expression and narrowing the steps of an MK s a slippery and dangerous slope that will end in a tyranny of the majority and cancelling out of the majority.” Voices in the International Community have also risen against the Knesset initiative, such as that of Member of the European Parliament Patrick LeHyaric, who started a petition asking the Israeli Parliament and authorities to “reconsider their position” and respect the rights of elected officials to carry out their mandate and the freedom of speech.

MK Zoabi commented on the vote, warning that it constitutes a dangerous precedent in the Knesset towards the Arab population and its elected representatives, and a hostile message. These moves against Arab parliamentarians, along with the recent actions of the Israeli government that have sought to limit the exercise of the freedoms of expression and associations in Israel, threaten to strain the relationships between Jews and Arabs in Israel.

The Mossawa Center calls for the International Community to use all available means to ensure that the Human, civil and political Rights of the Arab minority in Israel are respected and MK Zoabi’s parliamentary privileges are reinstated.

*MK Haneen Zoabi was elected to the Knesset in 2009. She is the first woman to be elected to the Knesset as a representative of an Arab political party. She participated in the ‘Gaza Freedom Flotilla’ and was aboard the MV Mavi Marmara.