Over the past four months’ wave of terror, Arab MKs have refused on many occasions to condemn terror attacks, or distinguishing between attacks in which Israeli civilians living west of the “green line” have been murdered, vs. settlers and soldiers. Several comments in that vein by Joint Arab List MKs Osama Sa’adi and Basel Ghattas have caused an uproar and have even led to a petition for a ruling by the Knesset Ethics Committee, specifically over comments made by MK Ghattas. On Thursday, the committee ruled that the absence of a condemnation is not tantamount to an incitement to murder.
Susie Dym, spokesperson for Mattot Arim, a right-wing, a group of pro greater-Israel activists inside the green line, submitted the petition to the Ethics Committee in October, arguing that MK Ghattas’ comments were, on several occasions, “justification for murder.”
Committee Chairman MK Yitzhak Vaknin (Shas) on Thursday responded that Ghattas’ comments did not constitute a breach of the Knesset ethics protocol. “MK Ghattas noted in his detailed response to the committee’s inquiry that his words, which contained no incitement to violence, expressed a legitimate political position and fell within the freedom of expression guaranteed an MK,” Vaknin added.
The committee’s ruling also stated that “the committee decided to reject the complaint, based on its consistent position of not limiting the broad political freedom of speech enjoyed by Knesset members, even when what they say is harsh and enraging.”
MK Vaknin concluded that when an MK does not acquiesce to a demand to condemn violent incidents “which they did not initiate or participate in” it does not constitute a breach of ethics.