Knesset to consider parliamentary committee to investigate activities of Arab members

Israel’s Hebrew-language Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said yesterday that the country’s parliament, the Knesset, is to look into an unprecedented proposal submitted by extreme right-wing parliamentarian Danny Danon. The Likud MK wants the Knesset to establish a parliamentary committee to investigate the activities of its elected members who belong to Arab parties because of what he claims are “extremist activities”.

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The move is also intended to investigate the overseas trips made by Arab MKs to neighbouring countries, as well as their various comments and the decisions of Israeli courts not to file complaints or indictments against them.

The initiative is expected to be looked at by the Presidency of the Knesset, which is comprised of the parliament’s president and his eight deputies, this week. The newspaper suggested that the right-wing initiative will not be rejected outright, but that different groups may exert pressure on Danon to withdraw his proposal. However, it is expected that the motion will be put to the Knesset in the form of a bill, with Danon looking for an ordinary majority of MKs to back it.

The right-winger said that matters such as “supporting Hamas and Islamic Jihad, denying the Jewish right to the land of Israel, praising Palestinian martyrs and participating in the ‘Flotilla of Terrorism’ [the Mavi Marmara] are things that cannot be passed over in the Israeli Knesset”.