Balad MK Hanin Zoabi caused an uproar Sunday when she compared the IDF to Islamic State.
By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANBalad MK Haneen Zoabi at the Knesset.(photo credit: REUTERS)
Balad MK Haneen Zoabi caused an uproar on Sunday when she compared the IDF to Islamic State.Islamic State “kills one person every time with their knives, but the IDF kills dozens of Palestinians with the push of a button,” she said, in an interview with Channel 2’s website. The air force pilot who pushed the button was “no less a terrorist than those who take knives and cut off heads,” she said.Continuing in her comparison, Zoabi said the IDF and Islamic State were “both murderous armies that lack redlines.” She denied there was a trend of Israeli Arabs joining the organization and said she opposed joining both Islamic State and the IDF.Calling the Israelis who have joined Islamic State “fringe,” she justified joining the terrorist group by saying that they “had no option in life and their lives lacked meaning.”Zoabi’s statements raised outrage across the political spectrum.Transportation Minister Israel Katz (Likud) called what she said “traitorous” and recommended expelling her from the country.“There is a limit to what a sovereign state and its citizens must accept from a certified traitor,” Katz said.Likud MK Miri Regev called Zoabi “a dangerous enemy of Israel who belongs in jail.”Yesh Atid MK Aliza Lavie said Zoabi’s comments were delusional and “continued a long list of racist and anti-Semitic statements” she made in the past.Attorney Eran Hermoni, a Labor Party activist who formed an organization called Smola (“Leftward” in Hebrew) said Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein must intervene and take action against Zoabi.
