Netanyahu Mocks Arab Lawmakers for Defending Hezbollah Against Terrorist Label

Netanyahu ridiculed Arab Members of Knesset who condemned the Arab Gulf States that designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, asking if they had gone mad.

Speaking at the Knesset Monday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Hadash and Balad, two of the four parties belonging to the mostly Arab Joint List, which condemned the Sunni Arab Gulf States that designated the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group as a terrorist organization.

“Countries from the Arab world decided to recognize Hezbollah as a terror group. This is an important development. Even amazing,” Netanyahu said.

“But what’s no less amazing,” he added, “is that two parties here in the Knesset condemned the decision. Will you continue to condemn them when Hezbollah shoots missiles at your villages? Have you gone mad?”

Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman added their own expressions of outrage.

“It’s simply unbelievable that Knesset members would harm Israel’s interests,” Katz said.

Lieberman said the condemnation of the Gulf states was “beyond absurd, proving that every day this band of terrorists continues to sit in the Knesset is an embarrassment to Israeli democracy.”

In February, Arab MKs of the Balad faction of the Joint List party visited families of Palestinian terrorists whose bodies were being held by Israel. Netanyahu was supported across the political spectrum in demanding that Arab Knesset members who console the families of Palestinian terrorists have no place in Israel’s parliament.

By: United with Israel Staff