Israeli parliament enacts impeachment law

Netanyahu warns of ‘iron fist’ 10 years after Lebanon war Militant killed in Gaza tunnel collapse: IJ

JERUSALEM, July 20, (Agencies): Israel’s parliament on Wednesday passed a law enabling it to impeach deputies for incitement to violence, racism or support for armed struggle against the state, in a move critics said was aimed mainly at Arab legislators.

Some Arab parliamentarians have enraged Israel’s Jewish majority by meeting with families of some of the Palestinians killed during a recent surge in street attacks on Israelis.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the new law ended “the absurd situation” whereby someone who “supports terror against the State of Israel and its citizens” could serve as a member of parliament.

Passed by a 62-47 vote, the bill is also seen by campaigners as the latest example of legislation promoted by Netanyahu’s right-wing government attempting to curb freedom of speech.

“This is one of the most serious legislative proposals in recent years and it harms the very building blocks of democracy — the right to freedom of expression, the right to vote and to be elected, and the right to representation,” said Debbie Gilad-Hayo of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel.

“Arab (lawmakers) whose actions and remarks do not find favour with the political majority will be the first people harmed by the bill — however, it is a slippery slope and the bill has potential to affect all,” she said in a statement.

But the law could prove to be more symbolic than practical, as it requires at least 90 of the house’s 120 members to vote in favour of any impeachment, a major- RAMALLAH, July 20, (AFP): A Palestinian boy was killed by Israeli soldiers who fired rubbercoated bullets near Jerusalem on Tuesday, said the Palestinian health ministry.

“Mohiyeh al-Tabakhi, 12, was killed by shots fired by occupation soldiers in the Al-Ram area near Jerusalem,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Palestinian suburb in the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem is cut off from the Holy City by the “separation wall” built by Israel.

The boy was hit in the chest by a rubber-coated bullet which caused cardiac arrest, medical sources were quoted by the Palestinian news agency WAFA as saying.

Israeli police said tear gas grenades and sound bombs had been used against demonstrators

ity that may be hard to achieve in the fractious Knesset.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel would respond with an “iron fist” if attacked, in a speech marking 10 years since a devastating conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Netanyahu described the war as “a clash between an extremist terror organisation with an Islamist ideology and a free democratic Israel”.

“We are in a global battle. We are aware of the nature in the area.

“After being pelted with Molotov cocktails, police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the protesters,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP. “There was no live fire,” she added.

Earlier on Tuesday, a Palestinian shot after stabbing two Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank died of his wounds, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Mustafa Baradeah, 51, lightly wounded the soldiers with a screwdriver before being shot, the army said. He also had a knife in his possession.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian militant has died after a tunnel collapse in the Gaza Strip, Islamic Jihad has announced, in the latest in a series of such incidents.

of the threats we face, and are preparing for any scenario,” he said at a ceremony at the Mount Herzl military cemetery.

“If the quiet is kept, those facing us will enjoy quiet. But if the need arises, we will respond to aggression — and the response will be powerful. Whoever thinks they will find ‘spider webs’ here will get ... an iron fist.” The mother (center), of Olfa Bent Souayah, who was killed in the attack on the French resort of Nice last week, mourns during the funeral in the town of Enfidha, in north-eastern Tunisia on July 20. According to Tunisia’s foreign ministry, Olfa, the mother of a four-yearold boy was killed in the attack and her son is still missing. (AFP)