While Israel is still fighting a fierce battle against Hamas terrorists, three MK’s from the Balad party, Hanin Zoabi, Jamal Zahalka and Basal Ghattas travelled to Qatar and met with ex-MK Azmi Bishara who has been hiding there after passing information to Hezbollah in the 2006 Second Lebanon War, helping direct their missiles at Israeli citizens.
Upon this news being revealed, the Legal Forum for Israel requested that the Knesset Ethics Committee investigate who funded the visit and whether or not authorization was received for this visit as is required. It has now emerged that that it was the Arab Center for Policy Studies, founded by former MK Azmi Bishara, that funded the trip, and details of the visit were provided only after the MK’s returned to Israel.
Beyond the grave severity of the fact that members of the Israeli Knesset have visited a state which funds the building of the murder tunnels from Gaza into Israel and met with a traitor who fled Israel after being suspected of espionage, there is also the fact that these three MK’s have once again disregarded the Knesset’s ethical rules. According to the Knesset Ethics Committee bylaws, any MK who is the recipient of a gift including the funding of plane tickets, or accommodation is obligated to receive authorization in advance from the Ethics Committee.
It is now clear that in this case authorization was not requested in advance, and that this is not the first time that at least two of the aforementioned MKs, Zoabi and Zahalka have acted with complete disregard to the Knesset’s laws. In 2010 Zoabi and Zahalka travelled to Libya to meet with former Libyan leader Gaddafi without permission. Despite the Forum requesting that they be penalized for their actions, the Committee decided that since it was their first offence they would not be penalized.
Furthermore, in 2012 MK Zoabi travelled together with MK’s Tibi and el-Sana to Qatar, and, despite the Committee’s decision to penalize Zoabi, in light of her decision to apologize for her actions, she was only reprimanded. The Committee also decided that if the MK’s were to violate the bylaws once more they will be obligated to return the equivalent amount of the funds received to the State Treasury. The Legal Forum is now demanding that the Committee enforce its authority and penalize the MK’s according to the previous decision in 2012. It is inconceivable that members of the Israeli Knesset continuously disregard the Knesset’s laws and travel to a State which publicly supports Israel’s enemies.
