US/World News

Arab-Israeli lawmaker in hot water for remarks made to U.S. newspaper

(JTA) – An Arab-Israeli lawmaker reportedly will be subject to a Knesset Ethics Committee hearing over anti-Israel remarks she made in an interview with a Jewish-American newspaper, including saying that the state should be dissolved.

Arab Joint List lawmaker Haneen Zoabi told the editor of J. The Jewish News of Northern California that she was on a visit to the San Francisco area, where she spoke at the University of California, Berkeley, and was honored by the Berkeley City Council because “We must liberate Americans from the Zionist lobby.” She also told the editor, Sue Fishkoff, referring to the State of Israel: “Your dream is my nightmare, and you need to wake up.”

The Jerusalem Post reported April 26 that Israeli lawmakers from two parties submitted complaints about Zoabi stemming from comments during the interview and her public appearances in California, citing unnamed sources on the committee. The lawmakers who complained “are not extremists,” The Jerusalem Post cited the sources as saying. The hearing likely will take place in the next two weeks, according to the report.

The Ethics Committee had authorized Zoabi’s trip and received information about it in advance, the sources also said.

In the Jewish News interview, Zoabi called for the State of Israel to be dissolved and replaced with either two states – one secular and one Palestinian, or one bi-national secular state.

Earlier this month at the United Nations in New York, Zoabi called on West Bank Palestinians to join in the Gaza border protests and said Israel was a fascist country. She was suspended from the Knesset for a week last month for calling Israeli soldiers murderers. A bid to impeach Zoabi under a new law following those remarks failed.

CAP: Haneen Zoabi

SHARE
RELATED POSTS
Israel Law Center nets $330 million for South Korean family
Four Israeli products on TIME’s Best Inventions of 2021 list
Despite Peres’ plea, EU refuses to call Hezbollah a terrorist

Leave Your Reply