6 Knesset Members Hospitalized After Excessive Posturing

Jerusalem, March 23 – Half a dozen Israeli lawmakers were taken for medical treatment today after they engaged in political posturing that their bodies could not handle.

Four of the six were reacting to the trial verdict of MK Muhammad Barakeh, who was convicted in the 2006 assault of a bystander but acquitted of other, more serious charges. The other two were staking out positions on the cost of housing and on drafting the ultra-orthodox for military service.

MK Zahava Gal-On of Meretz was admitted to Hadassah Hospital at Ein Kerem with back spasms after engaging in contortions of logic to denounce the prosecution of Barakeh, accusing the political establishment of trying to quash freedom of expression. She pointedly ignored Barakeh’s conviction of assault at a rally in Tel Aviv, and further hurt herself by straining credulity when she characterized the protests against construction of Israel’s separation barrier as “nonviolent.” Gal-On was listed in stable condition.

MK Ahmad Tibi of Ra’am-Ta’al was also listed as stable, having tripped over himself to condemn the conviction, which he called “persecution” of an Arab. The assault conviction was based on testimony and film evidence from the victim himself, who was elbowed by Barakeh.

Orit Strook and Ayelet Shaked of Jewish Home were admitted to Shaarei Tzedek Hospital with bruised egos, then released. Their condition had apparently been exacerbated by several Labor and Meretz MKs bombarding them with invective, and were slightly hurt by the mental gymnastics necessary to tar all Israeli Arabs, a fifth of Israel’s population, with the broad brush of Barakeh’s behavior.

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog laced into Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu over the cost of housing, but the premier emerged unscathed, as he was able to dodge the accusations by having fellow Likud MK Gidon Saar deflect them. Saar pulled a muscle stretching the truth in reply to Herzog. He was taken to Bikkur Holim Hospital, treated, and released.

In an exchange between Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett and Moshe Gafni of Degel HaTorah, the latter was treated for a wounded sense of entitlement after Bennett mentioned a stipulation that yeshivas would have their funding tied to adequate levels of military or civil service recruitment among students.

Episodes of Israeli government officials needing medical treatment for political posturing have been rare in the last decade. There have only been two: in 2005, the religious parties, members of Ariel Sharon’s governing coalition, bent too far over backwards to both retain their cushy positions in the government and sound like they were opposed to the disengagement from the Gaza Strip. And Minister of Finance Yair Lapid has been nursing a swelled head since his party claimed 19 seats in the 2013 elections.