Last update - 00:00 16/10/2006
Arab MK banned from Knesset for 3 days for 'disrespectful behavior'
By Gidon Allon, Haaretz Correspondent
A three-day ban from the Knesset was levelled Monday against Balad MK Jamal Zahalka after he showed "disrespectful behavior" during a Knesset general committee meeting on July 25th.
With the opening of the Knesset's winter session, speaker Dalia Itzik (Kadima) presented to the Knesset Ethics Committee a motion to ban Zahalka from taking part in any Knesset proceedings for three full days.
Itzik's complaint stems from a Knesset meeting on July 25, when Zahalka interrupted a speech by Vice Premier Shimon Peres and began hurling caustic remarks at a number of MKs, until he was removed from the room.
"He behaved in a disrespectful manner in front of hundreds of soldiers, police, and new immigrants," said Itzik.
Itzik emphasized in her complaint that Zahalka's outburst didn't seem "spontaneous or accidental."
An additional incident occurred on July 31, when Zahalka addressed opposition head MK Benyamin Netanyahu as the "King of Death," and was removed from the session.
Zahalka said that the complaints against him are "spiteful and motivated by political factors."
Regardless of Zahalka's protestations, the Knesset ethics committee maintained that his actions harmed the respect of the Knesset and the conducting of the meeting.
At the same time, the ethics committee decided to remove MK Ibrahim Tzarzur (Ra'am Ta'al) from the Knesset for a single day, after a complaint against him was presented by MKs Collette Avital (Labor) and Yoel Hasson (Kadima). The complaint stemmed from an August 3 Knesset session where Tzarzur referred to Defense Minister Amir Peretz as a "child murderer."