The Knesset ethics committee decided Wednesday to distance Arab MK Jamal Zahalka head of the Joint List from the Knesset plenum for an entire month to punish him for describing Knesset foreign affairs committee chairman Avi Dichter a murderer of innocents and children.
The incident occurred July 2 in a fierce debate in the Knesset plenum over the so-called Taylor Force Law in which the Knesset decided to withhold funds to the Palestinian Authority that it gives as monthly stipends to prisoners and their families.
Zahalka will be serving the sentence when the Knesset comes back from its extended summer and holiday recess on October 14.
Commenting on the decision Zahalka reiterated what he had said about Israel’s war crimes and expressed readiness to pay for his firm positions with no fear of any punishment.
“The ethics committee is a political body that has installed itself as an authority defending Israeli security officials and imposing sanctions on those who expose their crimes” he said.
“This is also a biased committee because it has ignored complaints submitted by Arab MKs who were accused by right-wing Knesset members of being terrorists” he added.
