Zoabi at court
Photo: Noam Moshkowitz
Zoabi found guilty of insulting public official as part of plea deal
Plea bargain removes more serious charge of incitement to violence from indictment after Zoabi called to 'spit in the face of' and 'wipe the floor with' two Arab policemen.
Joint Arab List MK Haneen Zoabi was found guilty on Thursday of insulting a public official after she verbally attacked Arab policemen outside a court session in the midst of the rioting that broke out after the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir.
Zoabi's conviction at the Nazareth Magistrate's Court was made as part of a plea deal she signed, which removed the more serious charge of incitement to violence from the indictment.
She will be sentenced on February 7.
MK Haneen Zoabi (Photo: Reuters)
On July 6, 2014, the Nazareth Magistrate's Court presided over remand extension hearings for suspected rioters. The Israel Police was represented in these hearings by two Arab policemen - Ihab Haddad and Bushr Amar.
During one of the breaks, the two were standing outside the courtroom when Zoabi raised her voice and claimed they were traitors. She went on with her accusations, saying they were sent to spy on people outside the courtroom.
Later, Zoabi urged those around her in Arabic to act against the policemen because they were "Arabs on duty in the service of the state."
According to the indictment, Zoabi's yelling included calls for "social ostracism," and she went on to say that "we need to spit in their face, those who testify ... against our sons and daughters, those who cooperate with the oppressor against their people. We need to wipe the floor with them, not shake their hands. And we won't let them be among us, they should fear us. They should fear Al-Shabaab, who are arrested based on the intelligence they send. They are the ones giving information to the police, and our young sons and daughters are arrested based on that. They have the audacity to stand here among us."
The State Attorney's Office said one of the people present outside the courtroom that day filmed some of the things that were said, and the video surfaced online later.
Zoabi said Thursday that this was "a minor issue of insulting a public official. My struggle is a political one. They're making a personal issue out of the political struggle and that's why I think this case is unnecessary. When Lieberman, a former foreign minister, says that anyone who disagrees with him should be beheaded - that doesn't get to court. An insignificant case does get to court because there's a double standard."
