Things heated up Monday morning during a debate at the Knesset Committee on the expulsion of illegal African migrants, and when committee chairman MK Yoav Kisch ordered the removal of MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz), she yelled at him: “Impudent, you are friends with Nazis.” Later on in the discussion, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) claimed that the figures presented in the media regarding expelling illegals were incorrect and misleading.
MK Zandberg, who is currently running for the chairmanship of her Meretz party, was removed by Chairman Kisch for “incessant disturbances.”
She replied, using impregnable logic, “I interrupted incessantly? You are friends with Nazis.”
Earlier, MK Amir Ohana (Likud) yelled at Zandberg that when opponent of expelling illegal infiltrators compare it to the plight of Jews during WW2, they are “cheapening the Holocaust.”
“The demagoguery of Yoav Kish crossed all the red lines,” Zandberg said after her removal from the committee meeting. “I have said repeatedly and still insist that the ties of the ruling party with anti-Semitic and Nazi parties in Europe is a disgrace to the State of Israel and a disgrace to the Israeli government.”
“It is inconceivable that this government would use the Holocaust demagoguery when it suits its needs, while retroactively justifying the genocide in Rwanda, maintaining contacts with Holocaust deniers in Poland and hosting anti-Semites from Austria,” Zandberg continued. “Someone should tell this government the truth – its friendly relations with such parties is a great disgrace and a Mark of Cain for the entire Knesset.”
Minister Deri argued that families, children and women would not be deported, and so was anyone who submitted a request for asylum until the end of December 2017 and their application has not yet been processed. He further noted that in 2017 more than 5,000 illegal aliens were deported from European countries, which he said disproves the allegations of discrimination on the part of Israel.
“South Tel Aviv is in a very difficult situation and the victims of distress are certainly the veteran residents as well as the asylum seekers,” MK Dov Khenin (the only Jewish member of the Joint Arab List) said during the discussion, adding, “But the government, instead of offering solutions and real change of the situation, is inciting. We are talking about people, people in distress who fled here from genocide and from a dark dictatorial regime.”