Likud MK rebuked for calling Arabs `worms'

It was another day of foul language in the Knesset yesterday, with Likud MK Yehiel Hazan calling Arabs "worms," prompting Arab MKs from the opposition bench to respond in kind.

During a plenum debate on a no-confidence motion, Hazan called out "the Arabs are worms, everywhere they are worms. Under the ground, above the ground, and everywhere else."

MK Wasal Taha (Balad) and MK Issam Makhoul (Hadash) protested, but Hazan went on, "You Arabs, you Arab MKs, you don't care about the nation's Arab citizens, only about the Palestinians. Muslim soldiers were murdered by terrorists like worms under the ground. That's who you represent, a nation of worms, not a nation seeking peace."

The acting speaker, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, asked Hazan to retract his remarks and to say that he did not mean that he was referring to an entire nation. Hazan said he meant that the Arabs are terrorists, "like those terrorists who dig in the ground, and don't even distinguish between religion and culture, killing Muslim soldiers. They aren't a nation and aren't a people!"

At that point, Taha broke in, asking "What are the soldiers doing there? Killing. They are occupiers and should leave." Labor MK Raleb Majadele called out to Hazan, "And you're surprised when people call you a racist," which led Makhoul to add, "He's not a racist. He's a worm."

Meanwhile, the Knesset Ethics Committee pointed out to MK Gideon Ezra, the acting public security minister, that he violated Knesset ethics by telling Yedioth Ahronoth that "MK Abdulmalik Dehamshe [United Arab List] is a good parliamentarian, who respects the rules, but there are bigger whores there [in the Knesset] and MK Issam Makhoul is a danger to the state."

The committee also called on the carpet Likud MK Michael Gorlovsky, who was caught trying to smuggle more than the permitted number of cigarettes into the country without paying customs.