Moshe Feiglin: I Will Not Allow Verbal Violence in Knesset Plenum

The following article was posted on the Manhigut Yehudit website in response to the verbal violence in the Knesset.

MK Moshe Feiglin chaired the Knesset plenum deliberations on Monday evening. Two Arab MKs hurled epithets at MKs David Rotem and Feiglin from the podium. As Speaker of the Knesset, Feiglin had one MK removed from the plenum and the other from the podium.

“Freedom of speech is not anarchy,” said MK Moshe Feiglin later in the evening. “When Arab MK Barakeh curses MK David Rotem and myself (as Speaker of the Knesset) that we ‘should choke'; when Arab MK Zachlakah calls the Speaker of the Knesset a fascist and neo-Nazi, they have crossed a red line and broken the rules of civility that guide Knesset deliberations. Their epithets warranted an immediate, decisive reaction.”

“Over the past few weeks – and even as these words are being written -” Feiglin noted, “the verbal violence of some of the Arab MKs has been translated by their constituents into physical violence. Unfortunately, democratic discourse has muddled the ability of some of the leftist MKs to discern between acceptable and unacceptable speech. Under the guise of ‘democracy’, they choose to make allowances for violent discourse that breeds terror,” he said.

“I stand behind the action I took this evening as Speaker of the Knesset and will do the same in the future if an MK – Jewish or Arab – crosses the red line of civilized discourse,” Feiglin concluded.