Arab Israeli Member of Knesset Hanin Zoabi (Balad) has published an article on Hamas’s website, encouraging an Islamist uprising against the Jewish state.
No stranger to controversy, Zoabi expressed sympathy for the kidnappers of three Israeli teenagers last month, questioning if the kidnappings even took place. Following those comments, police requested that a criminal investigation be opened against her for incitement. Her latest indignation was reported by Israel Hayom Friday.
In her article, Zoabi urges all Arab states to encourage a “popular uprising” against “Israel”, which she refers to consistently in quotation marks, implying it is not a legitimate entity. She also asks those countries to lay siege to the region and demand the Palestinian Authority end all security cooperation with Israel.
She slams Israel for Operation Protective Edge, saying, “There is no purpose to the military operation in Gaza. Israel will in no way eliminate Hamas – neither the motivations behind the resistance nor the motivation to end the Occupation.
“Israel will in no way accomplish anything by brute military force, killing, and devastation. [Israel’s] brutal aggression has no political policy other than fixing the current situation by continuing a series of crimes and violations against our people – stop that, and we will stop the rocket fire,” she says, identifying herself with Israel’s enemy.
“In order for ‘Israel’ to declare an end to the possibility of guarding its Occupation and deepening it, we must end the enemy’s Trinity – the siege, the security cooperation, and the border [. . .] we must besiege ‘Israel’ instead of negotiating with it,” she concluded.
Even Zoabi’s own family in Israel has distanced itself from her treasonous positions. Mohammed Zoabi, a relative of the MK who is a teenager living in Nazareth, made a name for himself by publishing a video on YouTube in support of Israel, the IDF and the search for the then-missing teens. About his relative, he said, “You have no right to serve in the Israeli parliament, and are more than welcome to get out of here.”
Other MKs have tried on a number of occasions to have Zoabi removed from the Israeli parliament. Before the previous elections, the Central Elections Committee banned Zoabi, under a clause forbidding candidates and parties from working against Israel’s character as a Jewish, democratic state, something that could be defined as treason. The Supreme Court ultimately overturned that decision, creating the present situation.
Since then, the Knesset has begun legal proceedings to amend the law, allowing them not only to prevent terror supporters from running for reelection, but also to remove them from office if convicted of incitement during their term. The law is known as “Zoabi’s Law”.
