On Monday, Likud MK Oren Hazan called Meretz MK Ilan Gilon half human. Hazan tried apologizing to Gilon in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday, but Gilon rejected his hand.
By GIL HOFFMANLikud MK Oren Hazan(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein scolded Knesset members on Wednesday following incidents this week that gave the parliament bad press.On Monday, Likud MK Oren Hazan called Meretz MK Ilan Gilon half human. Hazan tried apologizing to Gilon in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday, but Gilon rejected his hand.The same day, Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern called out Regev, saying that he “knows how she advanced in the army.” Stern said he was referring to her efforts to curry favor with her superiors and not that she had slept her way to the top.But when he addressed the Knesset plenum on Wednesday, Stern made a point of not apologizing to Regev, who he said ran a campaign based on the false interpretation of what he had said.“To those who were hurt by words, I express regret – but Miri Regev isn’t one of them,” Stern said.Netanyahu wrote on Twitter that “recent statements heard in the Knesset are unfit and have no place in Israeli discourse.”“I am in favor of arguments and from time to time even comments that sting – as long as they are handled respectfully and professionally and not personally,” Netanyahu said. “I am against harmful and chauvinist discourse that does not bring respect to the Knesset or to our public servants.”Edelstein said that he had received many complaints from the public about the behavior of Knesset members in the plenum.“This is unfortunately not new, but I want to send a message to the public that democracy remains the government of the people, and only you will decide who will remain in the Knesset and who will stay out,” he said.
