by Yaakov Ahimeir
Certain legislators from the Joint Arab List exploit parliamentary immunity to wage war on Israel at home and abroad, appealing to the High Court when they lose a vote and to international circles to intervene in domestic matters.
Is
it possible that a civil war is being waged in the Knesset, beneath the
national flag? The very thought is horrifying. Civil war is a terrible
event that afflicts nations, causes so many casualties and leaves deep
scars. A war doesn't have to entail lethal weapons – it can be waged
using PR, for example.
The war of words is an Israeli invention,
rolled out in the Knesset, where the entire litany of curses are
employed. Knesset members are removed from the plenum and sanctioned by
the Ethics Committee, which suspends the upstarts or docks their
salaries. On the whole, MKs have a legal right to say whatever they
think. Not everyone sticks to that; some want to undermine the
foundation of the state whose citizens elected them.
Do MKs restrict themselves to parliamentary
activity, which has almost no boundaries? It seems that the tools at
their disposal are insufficient. They don't limit themselves to passing
legislation or making crude speeches against the government. They
petition the High Court of Justice to rescue them from votes they lose,
being part of the opposition. We are talking about a specific group of
MKs from the Joint Arab List. They aren't satisfied with a parliamentary
struggle within Israel; they wage war against the country both at home
and abroad.
That same minority in the Joint Arab List
is working to attack the state. By the way, they weigh the sensitivity
of many of their provocative remarks. It's a tug-of-war between them and
the Israeli majority. Woe betide us if the rope snaps. They have
already tried a number of tactics: appealing to the U.N. for a
condemnation of a government move; asking the European Union to publicly
express disapproval of Israel. They asked the European leadership to
supply them with funds to continue their battle against the nation-state law.
That request produced a great surprise when E.U. Foreign Policy Chief
Federica Mogherini disappointed the delegation of Arab MKs and told them
that the nation-state law was an internal Israeli matter. They are
still taking other actions, including supporting the BDS movement's
boycott of Israeli products.
That is typical of a civil war – citizens,
in this case citizens who sit in parliament – are fighting against the
country, and asking international organizations to attack it. A few days
ago, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton condemned the International Criminal Court
in The Hague, promising that that the U.S. would stand by any of its
allies that were prosecuted by the court. Certain Arab MKs are using
international entities against us, which is utterly absurd.
Recently, MK Oded Forer (Yisrael Beytenu)
took a step to make it possible to oust Knesset members who support
terrorism. I thought at the time that if such a measure were
implemented, it might make the ex-MKs into heroes in the eyes of their
supporters. But in this civil war, as it is currently being fought, MKs
are plotting international ambushes as a way of taking aim at the
country. And that's not all: They aren't satisfied with petitioning the
High Court – which in and of itself blurs the separation of powers –
they have set their sights beyond Israel's borders. If they, as a
minority within the opposition, lose votes in the Knesset, they turn to
Brussels, which they see as the ultimate arbitrator.
Parliamentary immunity gives them
widespread protection to excoriate Israeli policies. But where should
they be working to change the nation-state law, for example? In the
European Parliament, or in the Knesset? If we lose the tug-of-war,
Israeli society will collapse.
Yaakov Ahimeir
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/arab-mks-are-waging-a-civil-war/
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