Wallah News host Tal Shalev on Wednesday pitched a softball to Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi: “If Itamar Ben Gvir joins the government, do you think the world should boycott Israel?”
Before we turn to Tibi’s reply, we should grasp the leftist-tribal thinking behind the question, which is so grotesquely anti-democratic, we believe Tal Shalev is entitled to a refund from whatever high school she attended.
A Knesset seat requires 1/120 of the legal votes in a given national election in Israel. There will be roughly 4.5 million votes in the coming November 1 election (probably fewer than that, but let’s use round numbers for simplicity’s sake). This means that around 37,500 Israelis will vote for Itamar Ben Gvir and pin their hopes and political aspirations on him. Mind you, the city of Kiryat Shmona only boasts 22,416 residents according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. Kiryat Malachi has only 25,220. Even Tsfat only has 37,169. And to the host of a Wallah news show, an MK elected by roughly the equivalent number of people who reside in Tsfat is so unfit to serve, including him in a future cabinet should bring on a boycott of Israel.
ח”כ @Ahmad_tibi: אם @itamarbengvir יהיה שר בממשלה אקרא לחרם בינלאומי על ישראל | @talshalev1 @YakiAdamker pic.twitter.com/wS35Im8xBS
— וואלה! (@WallaNews) October 19, 2022
MK Tibi responded that there already are first signs of such reactions by US Senators (it’s only one Senator – Bob Menendez, who probably doesn’t know Ben Gvir from a hole in the wall and was simply following requests from the Lapid campaign).
“I hope the Europeans will behave similarly,” Tibi said.
“Will you call on them to do it?” Shalev asked, volleying yet another softball at her host, whose former job was consulting the late Yasser Arafat.
“Yes, the answer is yes,” Tibi answered, nodding his head with great conviction.
Otzma Yehudit Chairman MK Itamar Ben Gvir issued a response, saying: “The terror supporter Ahmad Tibi once again proves what we said a long time ago: he is a terrorist in a suit who sits in the Israeli Knesset instead of being removed from here to the Syrian parliament. In any case, Tibi’s pressure is understandable: if we win the elections, I recommend that he buy a one-way plane ticket to Syria right now.”
Ben Gvir added: “Tibi has been inciting rebellion against the State of Israel for a long period of time, and was not interrogated with a warning even once by the police, because the Attorney General refuses to order his investigation. We’ll do this too, with God’s help.”
And someone should buy Tal Shalev as a Chanukah gift a copy of Evelyn Beatrice Hall’s book, The Friends of Voltaire, where she illustrates the great philosopher’s position on freedom and democracy in the immortal, though made-up line: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
It’s a must-have book for hosts of political interview shows.
