MK Hanin Zoabi told Radio Tel Aviv this morning that the kidnappers of Eyal Yifrah, Gil-Ad Shayer and Naftali Frenkel should not be considered terrorists.
“Terrorists? No. Even if I don’t agree with their actions, I don’t think the kidnappers should be considered terrorists,” Zoabi said during an interview with Sharon Gal on the stations morning drive radio program. “I’m not surprised at all [about the kidnapping]. People are living under occupation. Their lives are not normal.”
Zoabi also called her teenage cousin, 17-year-old Mohammed Zoabi a “poor fool” and indicated that he is a stooge for the Israeli government because he appreciates his rights as a citizen in a democratic country. “He’s a a confused, uninformed kid who always feels the need to apologies to his strong [Israeli] masters,” the Knesset members said.
The younger Zoabi’s YouTube video statement of support for the hostages has garnered thousands of views, as well as threats from his family.
In response to the interview, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman attacked MK Zoabi, saying the Israeli citizen who openly supports Hamas and Hezbollah should face the same punishment as the individuals responsible for abducting the yeshiva students.
According to a report on the 0404 website, Liberman called Zoabi a “terrorist’ and added that, having encouraged and supported terrorism, her punishment should be the same.
Several weeks ago, the website reported that Zoabi called a group of Jewish Israeli teenagers “murderers” and said that killing soldiers in order to obtain a higher goal is the right thing to do.