Zohar’s sexist dig at Silman: Answer me like a good girl
Insult underlies opposition’s offensive against coalition leader
“Answer me like a good girl,” Likud MK Miki Zohar told Knesset Arrangements Committee chairwoman MK Idit Silman (Yamina) on Monday.
He made his comment during the committee vote regarding a bill that would make it easier to split the Likud Party so that four of its MKs can join the coalition.
In a video of the exchange, Zohar can be heard speaking over Silman, who serves as coalition chairwoman and has been subjected to death threats, as she attempted to silence the committee members.
“Who are you anyway? Answer me like a good girl,” Zohar said after Silman refused to interrupt the proceedings to answer his question.
“I will not answer your question,” she retorted. “You arrived late for the committee meeting.”
The committee vote was scheduled for 8:30 a.m., an “impossible hour,” Zohar, a former coalition chairman, told Army Radio before the meeting. It was far too early in the day to schedule meetings, he said.
Committee members continued to speak over Silman as she tried to restore order.
The incident was “cowardly chauvinism,” Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata (Blue and White) said. It was “not just a personal slur on Silman, but showed disregard for the status of women in general,” she said.