Middle East Monitor / July 20, 2024
During the deliberations of the Israeli Knesset on the brutal war on Gaza and the attempts by the Zionist far-right to pin the accusation of terrorism on the Palestinian side, MK Ayman Odeh (head of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) took the initiative to blame the occupation government and its ministers for the war on Gaza. This sparked a storm of reactions and a campaign against him by Israeli MKs, and he was forcibly removed from the podium.
Odeh expressed in his speech, while some Zionist party MKs interrupted him, shouted at him and attempted to attack him: “You are the terrorists. This is the truth. According to the international definition of the word terrorism, which began in the 1930s, it is a direct and intentional attack or threat to a population.
The question here is who is the terrorist? The draft law proposed by you talks about revoking the nationality or citizenship of anyone who encourages or incites terrorism. I ask here: who is inciting terrorism and killing children in Gaza? Who is inciting against citizens and civilians and who killed 40,000 Gazans? Who committed this?”
Odeh continued: “The one convicted of terrorism is sitting here. Terrorism is you… this group must be condemned as terrorism… terrorism against civilians, killing two- and three-year-old children, killing infants, and killing 20,000 children under the age of ten in Gaza. You are terrorists and murderers.”
Following this, the head of the session in the Israeli Knesset asked Odeh to retract his accusations. When Odeh did not comply, he turned off Odeh’s microphone and forcibly removed him from the podium.
Another Knesset session witnessed arguments between Palestinian and Israeli MKs that nearly escalated to fistfights during a heated debate about the war on Gaza. Some ministers in the occupation government, such as Security Minister Ben-Gvir, have been convicted of terrorism in Israeli courts.
