Knesset coalition lawmakers say they’ll walk out when Arab members of the Israeli parliament speak from the podium this week.
The action comes in response to the boycott of the September 30 funeral of former President Shimon Peres z’l, by the Arab legislators. The boycott was condemned by numerous other MKs.
Yisrael Beytenu party chairman and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman praised the coalition for the boycott. “I hope that same boycott will continue until the end of the session,” he said.
Liberman called the Israeli Arab lawmakers who boycotted the Peres funeral, “representatives of terror groups in the Israeli government” who were “not legitimate.” Most Israeli Arab citizens, he contended, are loyal and should be integrated into Israeli society.
Israeli Arab MK Ahmad Tibi, a member of the Joint Arab List, slammed the boycott. “The announcement by the prime minister, advocating for a boycott of an entire faction representing an entire segment of the population, is unprecedented,” he wrote in a Hebrew tweet on the Twitter social networking site.
Joint Arab List chairman and MK Ayman Odeh told reporters that he’s not surprised by the move, which he said was part of the “fascist and racist policies” of the Israeli government.
“Even if you leave the plenary, even if you shut your eyes really tightly, we will still be here,” he warned, adding that he saw the move as a way to speak directly to the public without interference from other lawmakers.
