Ban MK Hanin Zoabi from the Knesset

by MK Ofir Akunis

The State of Israel is a flourishing democracy. No contrary statement will change that. Like every other democracy, Israel has the right and obligation to defend itself from those, who in the name of democracy, seek to destroy it from within.

A self-respecting democracy sets a framework and rules for how to deal with those who try to break it apart. Israel did this in Basic Law: The Knesset, which says that people who support or participate in armed struggle against Israel cannot run in Knesset elections. This clause is clear, thorough and just. In the name of democracy, a framework was set and red lines were laid out.

MK Hanin Zoabi (National Democratic Assembly) violated this democratic framework and crossed the red lines. She participated in the Mavi Marmara terror attack. The Mavi Marmara was certainly not part of a "peace flotilla." We all saw that armed members of the IHH terrorist organization participated in the flotilla with one goal — to attack Israel Defense Forces soldiers. Our soldiers were thrown from the upper deck to the lower deck. With her body, Zoabi prevented our forces from providing aid to terrorists who had been wounded when IDF soldiers acted in self-defense. Zoabi participated in armed struggle against Israel. 

The law has spoken! "In the case of MK Zoabi, the accumulation of evidence was significant and very disturbing, approaching the forbidden line," Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein wrote. But he opposed banning her from running for Knesset. I respect Weinstein's opinion, but I don't agree with it. He believes that Zoabi's actions approached the forbidden line. I think that she crossed every boundary. And the evidence — footage from the Mavi Marmara showing Zoabi repeatedly inciting against the State of Israel and IDF soldiers and calling for a Third Intifada — proves this. 

Zoabi will need to explain herself on Wednesday to the Central Elections Committee and the public as a whole. Will she repeat her position, that if she could, she would again participate in the Mavi Marmara terror attack or something similar? Will she again, in the name of freedom of speech, speak out against Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state, as she was taught by fugitive spy and former National Democratic Assembly head Azmi Bishara? Will she again call for a Third Intifada? Will she again call the request to ban her from the Knesset "fascistic," even though democracies have the legal right to set frameworks and rules that she violated a long time ago?

Those who trample on Basic Law: The Knesset have no place in the legislature. Hanin Zoabi broke the law, so she has no place in the Knesset!

MK Ofir Akunis is the Likud representative on the Central Elections Committee and initiated the move to bar MK Hanin Zoabi from running in the Knesset election.

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3080

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