Coalition banking on defectors from Likud,

Tamano-Shata said she had written to Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy to request an Ethics Committee probe of the incident if he deemed it necessary.

Silman took to Twitter to comment on the event, suggesting that this was not the first

time such incidents had occurred.

“They call me a little girl – once, twice, three times,” she wrote. “And then I understood that this is a method – there is a guiding hand; kindergarten tactics. But this time it will not work.”

Zohar later apologized to her, saying he had spoken “in the heat of the moment.”

Silman has recently been subjected to death threats aimed at both her and her family, her office said Sunday. As a result of the threats, she has been assigned additional security.

“The threats against me and my family are a product of unprecedented and intentional attacks from opposition members,” Silman said.

Among the threats were statements such as, “You should experience how it feels to be a bereaved mother,” and “One of your children should die in a terrorist attack,” she said.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.