Ben-Gvir: ‘Terrorist’; Cassif: ‘Piece of s*** fascist’
‘Apartheid’ parley unravels into MK slur fest
A Knesset parley on apartheid quickly descended into a Right and Left slur fest that overwhelmed much of a two-hour conference accusing Israel of humanitarian crimes against Palestinians.
“You’re a group of terrorists,” yelled MK Itamar Ben-Gvir (Religious Zionist Party) at the MK organizers which included MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Joint List) from the opposition and MK Mossi Raz (Meretz) from the coalition.
“You’re a piece of s*** fascist,” shot out MK Ofer Cassif (Joint List).
“We know very well who is the terrorist here,” Touma-Sliman yelled at Ben-Gvir. “You’re the enemy,” he shot back, accusing the speakers of supporting “Jewish apartheid” and the murder of Jews.
Ben-Gvir was not among the invited attendees to the extra-parliamentary event that was held in the Knesset, but he managed to grab a seat at the conference table and began yelling less than 14 minutes into the event, titled “After 54 years: from occupation to apartheid.”
He continued yelling throughout most of the hour he was in the room, drowning out a number of the speakers.
Touma-Sliman asked the Knesset guards to evict him and when no action was taken she threatened to toss him out herself.
“There are people in here who still refuse to listen to the truth,” Touma-Sliman said.
“You’re are proving that there is an atmosphere of Jewish violence,” she exclaimed.
Ben-Gvir was outraged at the idea that those in the room spoke of IDF violence against Palestinians rather than highlight Palestinian violence against Jews.
MK Abir Kara (Yamina) was also removed from the convention after his own shouting match with Joint List MKs.
MK Ahmad Tibi (Joint List) told MK Amichai Chikli (Yamina) to “be humble” in front of senior parliamentarians like himself.
Then Chikli denounced Touma-Sliman
and her agenda; she accused him of “lying.”
The meeting is the latest part of a major NGO initiative to label Israel as an apartheid state until such time as Israel’s withdraws to the pre-1967 line. Such a label would make Israel an international pariah.
Before the meeting took place, members of Yesh Atid, New Hope, Yamina, Yisrael Beytenu and Blue and White signed a letter to Knesset Speaker Miki Levy asking him to “end Knesset involvement in events that act against the state of Israel, tarnish its good name, and work with antisemitic organizations like BDS.”
During the debate, Tibi suggested that Israel abolish its Law of Return that gives Jews the right to immediately immigrate to Israel.
He pointed to Baruch Goldstein, who came to Israel under that law and who massacred 29 worshippers in the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994, as his evidence that the law was problematic.
Among the speakers who angered him the most was BDS activist and the “Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch” Omar Shakir, who had joined the convention by using Zoom since Israel denied him a work visa to enter Israel because of his anti-Israel activism.
“[The Israeli] government’s policies have been to methodically favor one group, Jewish Israelis, and to systematically oppress Palestinians to varying degrees of intensity,” he said. “History will define this Knesset and every member of it first and foremost by what they did in the face of crimes against humanity.”
RAZ DEFENDED holding the convention despite the controversy.
“This convention is in honor of the Jews who work to end the occupation, and we will have justice,” Raz said.
Israeli human rights organizations also took the opportunity to denounce the government’s policies.
“We have committed this apartheid and it must end,” Lior Amihai of Yesh Din said. “In the West Bank, there is a military force that acts in favor of Israelis
and against Palestinians in non-humanitarian ways.” He also accused right-wing party leaders, including Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of wanting to keep Palestinians under permanent occupation.
Space was limited and not everyone was invited into the room. Some journalists, such as Israeli Arab Yoseph Haddad, CEO of NGO Vouch for Each Other, were not admitted into the discussion room.
Haddad’s organization tries to integrate Arab Israelis into Israeli society by developing a connection between the country and young people.
“I am an Israeli Arab with different opinions and they don’t want me inside,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “They are the ones who really [display] apartheid. If she says that Israel [has] apartheid, how is she allowed to [hold this meeting with-] in the walls of Israeli democracy?”
Haddad acknowledged that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an important and present issue. However, he said that Touma-Sliman spoke solely about the concerns of Arabs in Gaza and the West bank while leaving out the Israeli Arabs who voted her into the Knesset.
He was also upset that Jewish MKs and organizations are buying the argument that Israel is an apartheid country. He said that they have made this argument part of their ideology, and ending the apartheid would therefore end their “legitimacy” as MKs.
Many MKs have spoken out about the convention, including allies of Raz.
“To refer to Israel as an apartheid state is not correct, and it’s not intelligent,” Meretz MK Yair Golan said about his colleague.
Chikli denounced Meretz for involving itself in the convention and also called for it to not take place.
“The equation of Israel as an apartheid state such as South Africa is a sabotage operation that tries to undermine Israel’s existence,” he wrote in a statement. “The thought that the Knesset would host a convention like this where BDS operatives can present is nothing short of outrageous.”