Could the suspended MK be reprimanded further for his appearance in an Eve and Lear clip?
By AMY SPIROUpdated: MARCH 1, 2018 10:39Eve and Lear - Star | The official music video (Eve and Lear - official channel / YouTube)
During his six-month suspension from the Knesset, Likud MK Oren Hazan has to find other ways to keep busy. And apparently he’s been brushing up on his acting skills, because he just made his debut in a music video for Israeli pop duo Eve and Lear.The song, released on Monday, is called “Star,” and features Hazan as a teacher who takes a selfie with a statue and then turns his classroom into a dance party. The video - directed by Sahar Golovaty - also stars Israeli model Nataly Dadon as one of the students in Hazan’s class, and features The Jerusalem Post in a special cameo.Last month, Hazan was suspended from the Knesset for six months by the Knesset Ethics Committee, for several incidents of inappropriate behavior against his colleagues. He is permitted to come to the Knesset only in order to vote. In its decision to punish Hazan, the committee said it was “horrified by the accumulation of statements and behavior by MK Hazan that we see in these events... which present a pattern of action that is bullying, rude, degrading and harassing.”But the Likud MK could face further punishment just for appearing in this new video clip.The Knesset Ethics Committee has in the past punished Knesset members for participating in commercial activities.In 2016, Culture Minister Miri Regev appeared in a promo clip for the TV show Eyal Golan is Calling You, and was reprimanded by the committee. At the time the committee said Regev had crossed the line “between expressing a stance... and inappropriate PR.”A public relations representative for Eve and Lear – which is made up of brothers Tzahi and Eliran Buzaglo – told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that Hazan was not paid for his appearance.A spokesman for Hazan confirmed that he took part in the video without payment.“MK Hazan is always happy to help out young artists,” Hazan spokesman Alex Shults told the Post. “If he can give of himself so that others succeed, he does it out of love.”Shults said Hazan did not need to request permission from the ethics committee since it was a short, one-time event. He cited as precedent similar appearances by President Reuven Rivlin and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai – though neither are Knesset members.
In 2012, the same committee nixed then-Kadima MK Nino Abesadze’s hopes of appearing on the Israeli Dancing with the Stars. The committee told the Post on Monday that, to its knowledge, Hazan did not request permission to take part in the clip from either it or the legal adviser.“In principle, the issue of participation in such clips has not yet been discussed,” said Knesset spokesman Yotam Yakir. “Therefore at this stage we cannot respond.”Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.