Netanyahu ‘to work toward ousting Arab Knesset member’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he plans to work toward ousting an Arab member of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) who has described the Israeli commandos who killed ten Turkish activists back in 2010 as “murderers.”

Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he seeks to launch the expulsion process for Haneen Zoabi, the Arab MP, who said in a Knesset session earlier in the day that the Israeli forces who raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla some six years ago were “murderers.”

“I spoke again this evening with the attorney general to consider advancing the process of expelling Haneen Zoabi from the Knesset. In her actions and her lies, she’s crossed every line and she has no place in the Knesset,” Netanyahu said, Haaretz reported.

Israeli commandos attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, 2010, killing nine Turkish citizens and injuring about 50 other people. A tenth Turkish national later succumbed to the injuries sustained in the raid.

Zoabi was on board the vessel that was raided.

Ankara initially reacted to the Israeli raid with fury. It suspended its military ties with Israel and expelled the Israeli envoy from Ankara in September 2010 over Tel Aviv’s refusal to apologize for the killings.

However, Turkey gradually relented, engaging in not-so-public negotiations with the Israeli regime to normalize relations. The two sides reached a deal on the matter, which was formally announced on Tuesday.

The Wednesday Knesset session where Zoabi spoke was held to discuss the deal on the normalization of ties between Israel and Turkey. The session went raucous as she spoke. She was removed from the plenum as several other members attempted to disrupt her speech and even attack her.

Zoabi referred to the apology formally given by Israel to Turkey, drawing attention to the irony that, six years ago, the activists on board the vessel were called “terrorists,” and now they are given compensation and receive formal apologies.

“I stood here six years ago. Some of you remember the hatred and hostility toward me. And look where we got to. Apologies to the families of those who were called ‘terrorists.’ The nine that were killed, it turns out that their families need to be compensated,” she said.

She said she, too, was warranted an apology and compensation, which she said she would donate to a next aid flotilla for the Gaza Strip.

Gaza has been blockaded by the Israeli regime since 2007. The aid flotilla that was raided by Israeli commandos back in 2010 was attempting to break the siege, which has severely affected the Palestinian population in the strip.

Zoabi has on numerous occasions spoken in favor of Palestinians’ rights.

The so-called Ethics Committee of the Knesset is expected to “punish” Zoabi in “the next few days” over her Wednesday remarks, according to the Haaretz report, which did not specify what kind of “punishment” was expected.

Meanwhile, a committee of the Knesset is pushing proposed legislation that would allow the Knesset to suspend a sitting member. The proponents of the bill now hope that the incident involving Zoabi would help push the bill forward.

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