Joint List Protests Ban On Molotov Cocktails In Knesset

“What’s going to be made illegal next – declaring solidarity with a terrorist organization?” asked MK Basel Ghattas.

Credit: IDF

Jerusalem, September 20 – Members of the Joint Arab List delegation in the Knesset voiced their objections to various security measures in place at the compound, calling the ban on explosives and incendiary weapons suppression of their legitimate right to resist the Zionist occupation.

MKs Dr. Ahmad Tibi, Haneen Zoabi, and Jamal Zahalka held an impromptu demonstration in the courtyard in front of the Knesset this morning (Sunday) to call attention to what they deem “the discriminatory policies in place that prevent Arab delegates from exercising their political rights,” specifically the right to object to Jewish sovereignty by hurling firebombs at symbols and agents of that sovereignty.

“There is no conceivable reason that we, the representatives of Palestinian citizens in this country, are prevented from engaging in the traditional protest activities of our people,” declared Tibi through a bullhorn. “Yet here, in the Knesset compound itself, where we have been elected specifically to represent the interests of Palestinian citizens of Israel in an official capacity, we are told in no uncertain terms that Molotov Cocktails, rocks, pipe bombs, and other authentic symbols of Palestinian resistance are not allowed. End the imperialist suppression of our culture!”

MK Zoabi recalled how humiliated she felt when she discovered she would not be allowed to hurl a Molotov Cocktail at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as he addressed the plenum. “Imagine the degradation!” she told the assembled group of mostly foreign journalists. “Imagine being unable to be who I am, who my people are, and to engage in my fundamental right as Palestinian, to protest the policies of this war criminal, this man who would dare impose fines on the poor parents of Palestinian children who throw rocks and firebombs and police!” Netanyahu announced Sunday the government would move forward with a legislative proposal to levy heavy financial penalties on the parents of youths convicted of attacking security forces.

“What’s going to be made illegal next – declaring solidarity with a terrorist organization?” asked MK Basel Ghattas, who arrived after the demonstration had concluded. Ghattas participated in a flotilla bound for Gaza this summer, aimed at challenging Israel’s naval blockade of the territory. The self-declared humanitarian mission carried mostly activists, with a token cargo of goods that occupied perhaps a cubic meter of space; the propaganda purpose of the flotilla served the terrorist organization Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip. The Israeli navy intercepted the flotilla without incident, and Ghattas avoided arrest by claiming parliamentary immunity.

MK Zahalka said more Joint List legislators would have attended, but they were busy meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and King Abdullah of Jordan in Amman, to work on a joint statement concerning how filthy Jewish feet are.