The State Prosecutor's office announced on Thursday that there is no room to initiate criminal procedures against newly appointed Minister Avigdor Lieberman for his comments in the Knesset comparing the Arab Knesset members to Nazis.
The legal opinion was given by Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan after a request by Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List – Ta'al).
Lieberman said that "the fate of the collaborators in the Knesset should be same as the fate of the Nazi collaborators." Immediately after these words, Tibi approached Attorney General Mazuz and demanded that "a criminal investigation be initiated against Lieberman for violating the law against incitement and racism."
Tibi added then that the words are "a danger to the lives of the Arab MKs which constitutes incitement for violence and bloodshed."
Deputy Prosecutor Nitzan said in his answer that "after we examined the transcript of Lieberman's statements, we reached a conclusion that there is no room to initiate criminal proceedings against him. Our check revealed that the words are not incitement to violence or incitement to racism. We reached these conclusions despite our objection of the content."
In addition to the answer that the content does not constitute an offense, the statement also indicates that the members of Knesset have broad immunity on statements which were made while performing their work.