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Israeli Arabs

Terror finds representation in Knesset

Israeli-Arab MKs defiantly meet with Hamas


By Ryan Jones
April 20, 2006

Strengthening views that they represent Israel's "enemy within," several Arab members of Israel's Knesset met openly Wednesday with top Hamas officials in a show of solidarity with the terrorists.

The meeting in eastern Jerusalem was ostensibly an act of protest against Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to revoke the Hamas members' residency status in the Jewish state after the Palestinian Authority officially endorsed Monday's Tel Aviv "suicide" bombing as a legitimate act of "self defense."

But from left to right, it was denounced across the Israeli political spectrum as a borderline act of treason.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said the get-together proved anti-Jewish terrorism has official representation in the Knesset, while senior Labor Party MK Ofir Pinas-Pas called it "unforgivable." National Religious Party chief Zevulun Orlev said the Arab MKs who participated in the meeting were a "Trojan Horse" within the Knesset.

MK Taleb a-Sanaa is expected to lose his place on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which he was appointed to only Monday, as a result of organizing and leading the Israeli-Arab delegation at the ill-advised summit.

Said Livni, according to The Jerusalem Post:

"Whoever meets two days after an atrocious act of murder with officials who do not recognize Israel's existence cannot be a part of a committee which is entrusted with Israel's security."

Many Jewish lawmakers are calling for even harsher repercussions.

Orlev suggested:

"Their immunity as MKs should be revoked and they should be brought to trial."

Indeed, that would seem the natural reaction in most of the world's other democracies if, say, local lawmakers decided of their own initiative to break bread with Osama bin Laden's deputies.

A-Sanaa meanwhile maintained his innocense, and suggested that rather than indignation, Israel owes him a debt of gratitude.

"We fulfilled our obligations to promote peace and end the cycle of violence cycle. We deserve a medal of honor."

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