High Court rejects Zoabi's petition against her suspension from Knesset debates

The Supreme Court rejected the petition of MK Hanin Zoabi against her suspension from the Knesset - and left the penalty of suspension from the House, six months in length, intact.

MK Hanin Zoabi appealed to the court and asked to intervene in the decision of the Ethics Committee which suspended her from Knesset debates, and cancel it. Alternatively, the court was asked to intervene in the penalty imposed on the MK.

In view of schedules, the five Supreme Court justices as they sat as High Court, decided to rule in the petition today, without reasoning, which shall be made separately. Judges Miriam Naor, Elyakim Rubinstein, Esther Chayut and Hanan Meltzer voted for the dismissal of Zoabi's appeal. The only one dissenting opinion was Justice Salim Jubran.

"The punishment is indeed unusual in its severity compared to penalties imposed in the past," the decision of the Supreme Court stated, "but, under the circumstances and in view of the harsh words of the petitioner and the timing they were said, and after much of the punishment was during the off-season, we saw no reason to interfere in the broad discretionary of the Ethics Committee".

As recalled, five months ago on 2nd Av, the Knesset Ethics Committee determined that MK Hanin Zoabi would be suspended from plenary debates and committees for six months. Zoabi sparked a row when she exacerbated her expressions and in part said that the hijackers of the three boys who were killed were not terrorists.

Last night, Channel 10 news published that the prosecution is formulating an indictment for insulting a public official and threats, following the materials exposed on the channel and which recorded her using harsh words against police officers in court. The Prosecution responded that a resolution has not yet been formed on the matter.

Court: There is no precedent of such a statement of MP
Yesterday, the Supreme Court justices sharply criticized MK Hanin Zoabi during the hearing on the petition filed against the decision of the Ethics Committee of the Knesset to suspend her for six months from the deliberations of committees and plenum due to extreme statements. The discussion focused on whether the ethics committee is authorized to discuss the political statements of Knesset members, even if made outside the Knesset.

Justice Hanan Meltzer focused on an article in which Zoabi called for a siege of the State of Israel, noting that "there is no precedent in the entire world on such a statement of an MP in the country of which he is a member."

Justice Esther Chayut added, "This deals with attitudes which are not only outrageous to part of the public, but oppose the State itself, statements that are understanding and identifying with people who kidnap children. I can not understand how a person who defines himself as if he is against violence, justifies and understands people who kidnaps kids on the way home. It is a black sign! What is a person who abducts a child on the way to school and murders him in cold blood in a car? Is there another definition for him apart from a terrorist?"

The Knesset's legal advisor, Eyal Yinon, referring to MK Zoabi's words about the murderers of the three boys that "they are not terrorists, they did not see any other way. This is the only way that Israel understands," said, "This is not just another outrageous political statement but support for enemies of the state and even if there is no criminal offense here, the committee has the authority to discuss this. The second expression is even more severe and was in writing, so that there was previous thought. This is an article written by Zoabi during operation Solid Rock, 'where she said that we should start a popular uprising, lay siege to Israel, halt security coordination and stop to negotiate with it".

"This is not another political expression of a Knesset member, but a will harm the interests of the state in time of war.

We receive hundreds of complaints against MK Zoabi over the years and reject them out off hand or on their merits but the feeling here was that one can not contain such a statement as part of the freedom of expression of a member of the Israeli parliament while his country is fighting".

Immediately after the hearing, Zoabi confronted with right-wing activists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel out of court and court security guards separated the combatants.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!