The Knesset Ethics Committee slapped a one-week ban on the Joint (Arab) List party’s chairman, Ayman Odeh, Monday for utilizing “vulgar and offensive” language in a confrontation with a police officer in May.
The ban applies to all committee and plenary debates however won't stop Odeh from voting.
The punishment comes following a grievance to the committee by Likud MKs Oren Hazan and Nava Boker about Odeh’s conduct on the Bnai Zion Medical Center in Haifa whereas he was visiting Arab Israeli activist Jafar Farah, who was being handled for a damaged knee he sustained after his arrest at a demonstration in opposition to Israel’s response to protests alongside the Gaza border.
Farah mentioned he sustained the harm when he was assaulted by a cop whereas already in police custody. Footage of his arrest the day prior exhibits Farah being led away in handcuffs and strolling on his personal.
Arab-Israeli NGO employee Jafar Farah, who alleges a police officer broke his knee after he was arrested. (Screen seize: Twitter)
Attempting to go to Farah, Odeh was caught on digital camera difficult a police officer on the hospital who blocked his approach, calling him a “zero,” and asking him, “Who do you think you are?” He additionally used the slang epithet “kibinimat,” that's loosely translated as “for 4k’s sake.”
The committee discovered that “the language used by MK Odeh does not fall under the definition of sharp political arguments that may be worthy of criticism but is permitted under freedom of speech laws.”
Instead, “his language was vulgar and offensive and broke the ethics rules placed on parliament members,” in keeping with a assertion launched by the disciplinary physique.
Responding to the choice, Odeh slammed the committee, saying it had “become part of the efforts to silence dissenting voices.”
“I will not stop to do my work as an elected official and I will demand my right to visit the injured, especially those attacked by police,” he additionally mentioned.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman mentioned after the incident that Odeh and his party members have been “terrorists” who belong in jail.
“Every day that Ayman Odeh and his associates are free to walk around cursing at police officers is a failure of law enforcement authorities,” Liberman posted on Twitter.
“Terrorists don’t belong in the Knesset, they belong in prison,” he mentioned. “It’s time they pay a price for their actions.”
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman leads a faction assembly of his Yisrael Beytenu party on the Knesset on June 18, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
“We cannot remain silent when Knesset members humiliate [police], harm them and turn them into a punching bag,” Boker, one of many two Likud MKs who filed a grievance in opposition to Odeh, posted on Twitter on the time.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan wrote on Twitter that he had requested Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to open a felony investigation into Odeh for interfering with a police officer finishing up his duties, insulting a public official, violating a authorized order and making threats.
Mandelblit’s workplace mentioned Monday that a felony investigation wouldn't be opened in opposition to Odeh.