Knesset Members Host Event Entitled ‘From Occupation To Apartheid’, MK Ben-Gvir: Terrorists

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In an absurd example of how freedom of speech can be used to besmirch Israel even inside its own parliament, two Knesset members from the coalition and opposition hosted an event in the Knesset Tuesday entitled “After 54 years: From Occupation to Apartheid.” MK Mossi Raz (Meretz) a member of the governing coalition, has joined forces with MK Aida Touma-Suleiman (Joint Arab List) to host the event which will ‘mark 54 years of occupation” and discuss “the future of the struggle against the occupation and for peace.”

Raz’s involvement aroused opposition within the coalition, which was formed under the understanding that its rightist and leftist parties would avoid contentious issues in order not to rock the boat.

MK Itamar Ben-Gvir (Religious Zionism) attended the event and tried to heckle every speake, shouting at MK Raz and MK Ofer Kasif (Jewish member of Arab List) that they are “supporters of terror.” Ben-Gvir told Toma-Suleiman that she is “a terrorist and you can sue me, I’m willing to remove my parliamentary immunity.” Ben-Gvir spoke about a Jewish home which Arabs tried to burn with a petrol bomb on Monday but other attendees called him a “terrorist”.

Amichai Shikli, a rebel MK from Prime Minister Bennett’s Yemina party, labeled the event “a disgrace” and on Monday sent a letter asking the Knesset’s legal adviser and events department to prevent the participation of organizations he said were working against Israel in the international arena.

“This is a serious act of political sabotage and it is unbearable that it should take place within the walls of the Knesset,” Shikli said.

According to Shikli, organizations expected to participate in the event include left-wing human rights groups B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence. However Shikli’s main concern was over the participation of Human Rights Watch, an organization which works to delegitimise Israel. Recently the organization accused Israel of apartheid due to its discriminatory policies towards Palestinians.

Shikli was most incensed that Omar Shakir was supposed to address the event. Shakir, the director of Human Rights Watch’s Israel department, was expelled from Israel two years ago by then Interior Minister Aryeh Deri due to his active support of BDS.

Yamima MK Amichai Chikli (Olivier Fitousi/Flash90)
Authorities said at the time that Shakir’s expulsion was the first from inside Israel under a 2017 law allowing the deportation of foreigners who support a boycott. The move was condemned by international bodies, with the UN warning of a “shrinking space for human rights defenders to operate” in Israel and the Palestinian territori