MK Azmi Bishara (Balad) was removed from a Knesset Legislative Committee session on Tuesday for his use of profane language during an official meeting.

A heated argument broke out between Bishara and MK Gilad Erdan (Likud) at the hearing of a proposed law submitted by MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party) that would allow the Knesset to expel elected members from its ranks.

According to Orlev's proposal, MKs deemed as inciting racial hatred, denouncing Israel's right to exist as a Jewish and democratic country or expressing support of violence against the state or in a terror organization could be voted out of the parliamentary assembly.

	Advertisement

Erdan, who was in favor of the proposed law, remarked that "Hitler's government was also democratically elected," and called on the Israeli Arab Bishara to "go preside in a Palestinian or Syrian parliament."

Bishara, who apparently misheard Erdan's remark and confused the Hebrew verb for to preside with the similar sounding Hebrew verb for to procreate, replied by using the f-word and called the Likud member a "dog."

In response, a commotion erupted and the chairman of the committee, MK Menahem Ben-Sasson (Kadima), removed Bishara from the hearing.

Outside the boardroom, Bishara said he misunderstood Ardan's remark and lamented his choice of words in the midst of a heated debate.

Meanwhile, Ben-Sasson rejected Orlev's attempts to postpone the committee vote in order to introduce changes to it that would boost its chances of being approved.

Orlev's proposal was rejected by a majority of 11 to 5.

After the hearing was over, MK Ardan told press he thought MK Bishara's response was uncalled for no matter what he thought he had heard.

Bishara to propose bill to return expropriated land

Bishara submitted a Knesset bill Wednesday that would force the government to return expropriated land to its original owners in specified cases.

According to the proposed law, the property would revert to its owners if after seven years it has not been used for the original purposes intended by the government, or if the original purpose has been changed.

Countless acres of land have been expropriated from Arab and Jewish citizens over the years, and given the status of state land, to be used at the discretion of the government.

In the case of revised uses for the land, the original agreement between the landowner and the government would be examined. If the landowner received compensation, he would be required to return the payment in full.

Bishara said the new law aims to correct a "distortion" in the current land directive established by British Mandatory rule in 1943, and followed to this day by the Supreme Court and the government's legal advisors.

The present directive cuts ties between previous owners and their land, giving the government the power to do whatever it sees fit with the land once the deed is signed.

"We are talking about a matter of public interest of the utmost importance, something the High Court has addressed, and not a new 'Land Day,'" said Bishara, in a reference to an annual day of protests by Israeli Arabs, in part over past land confiscations.

Attorney Suhad Bishara, representing the Adalah Center, a rights advocacy group which deals with land rulings, said the proposal is meant to complement a verdict reached by the High Court, "which clearly states that the bond between the expropriated land and its owners remains even after the land is taken."