Arab MK slams extremist rabbi’s appointment as minister

Member of the Joint List in the Israeli Knesset Masud Ganaim yesterday criticised the inclusion of extremist Jewish Rabbi Yehuda Glick as a member of the Knesset, the Anadolu Agency reported.

Ganaim said: “As the proverb goes: ‘Birds of feather flocks together.’ Rabbi Glick is appropriate for this extremist right-wing government and he is going to take it further to the right.”

“This is a proof that the government is going forward in its frenzy and insane policy towards the Palestinians.”

Early yesterday, Glick was sworn in as a Likud Knesset member after the resignation of former Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who was replaced by Avigdor Lieberman, the extremist head of Yisrael Beiteinu party.

In a press release, Speaker of the Knesset Yuli-Yoel Edelstein said: “I warmly and happily welcome my friend Yehuda Glick in the Knesset.”

Ganaim said he considered Glick’s entry to the Knesset a “slap” to the global public opinion because he represents the occupation and settlements as he lives in an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

Speaking in the Knesset, Glick described himself as “an official representative of the Yesha district,” using the Hebrew acronym for the West Bank and Gaza. He said that as an MK he will work to ensure a ban on Jewish prayer in the Al-Aqsa compound is lifted.

He has previously called for daily raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque and its demolition to pave the way for the construction of the Temple Mount.

The extremist rabbi was born in the United States in 1965 and has been considered one of the most extremist Likud activists. Since 1990, he travelled between the US and Russia to encourage Jewish migration to occupied Palestine.