Arab MK presents injured child's picture at Knesset

Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh's speech on killing of civilians in Beit Hanoun interrupted by Arab MKs; MK Barakeh removed from hall. 'We apologize when we hurt innocents, while terrorists boast when they hurt civilians,' Sneh says
Ilan Marciano

Tensions were high in the Knesset on Monday afternoon while Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh addressed his fellow Knesset members during a discussion on the lethal shell which killed 19 Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun.

During Sneh's speech, MK Mohammad Barakeh (Hadash) was removed from the hall after confronting MK Moshe Sharoni (Pensioners Party).

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The Knesset eventually decided to remove the issue from its agenda.

The Knesset was scheduled to discuss two no-confidence motions on Monday, one of them submitted by the Arab factions under the title "The military operations and the massacre against civilians in Beith Hanoun."

Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik decided not to discuss the no-confidence motions due to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's visit to the United States. Following an argument with MK Barakeh, it was decided that the issue would be at the top of the Knesset's agenda.

At the start of the discussion, MK Barakeh presented a copy of a picture of 2-year-old child, Ahmed Atmani, who was injured in Beit Hanoun by the errant shell. Atmani was transferred to the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, where he underwent a series of operations.

According to the Knesset regulations, MKs must not present any item or document while speaking at the plenum.

Sneh: A cultural gap between us

During his address, Sneh said to MK Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al): "There is a cultural gap between us. We apologize when we hurt innocents, while the terrorists boast when they hurt civilians. Those who turned Gaza into a base of rockets, bears the responsibility for the casualties."

"Last September we left Gaza, we didn’t leave anything there. What justification is there for what you are doing? We apologize when we hurt innocents, while the terrorists boast when they hurt civilians. With this account go to the Jihad, to the Resistance Committees, and talk to them, rebuke them," he said.

Sneh added that "the entire fighting in the Gaza Strip area can have a happy ending, if two things happen: Negotiations are launched and terror stops. There will be no situation in which the government will let Israeli citizens be hurt and we will do nothing."

During the speech, an argument broke out between MK Barakeh and MK Sharoni. The Hadash chairman told the Pensioners Party MK, "Shut your mouth," while Sharoni called him a "hypocrite" several times.