It's sad when an ordinary citizen commits treason. It's absolutely horrible when a member of the parliament does so. She should be jailed for life.

Any party can express their ideologies and their views inside the framework they swore in the first place. These arab parties are the MiddleEastern equivalent of the European nazi parties with their fascist, racist and supremacist ideologies. Every citizen with two brain cells wouldn´t have any doubt about what would they do to the jewish citizens of the State of Israel should they come to power. Revocation of some of their rights is not the right path to walk, expulsion from Knesset is. Is it not the path they choose for Kach?

If the Attorney General has not yet decided whether Zoabi's actions were legal or not, why not wait until he does so? What is the Rush? If Zoabi did not act illegally, or in any way beyond any common illegality committed by other Knesset members, why withdraw her privileges. This will only bring disrepute to Israeli democracy.

should be in jail for supporting the violance against IDF soldiers, piriod nothing to over analize and it got no democracy issue, you see in democracy it's ok to express opinion but not to act against the people who pay her pay check, and she did act, she even justify the violance, in which soldier got hammer to the head, still in critical condition, even to democracy there r limits, you never asked the people opinion, they will probably will tell you she should be in jail for contacting HHI.

It's not surprising that Cohen bases his arugment on "free speech" and "democracy" in defense of those who use it only as a means of undermining Israel. Were there a genuine concern for freedom of speech, those who champion the cause of the various religious and non-religious ideologies that seek to destroy Israel would apply their liberal notions to the free speech of everyone - including the much hated "Right Wing". We have no obligation to extend total liberty to those whose lives are focused on eradicating us. They have declared war on us, and we should wake up to what it is they intend to do if given the chance.

No one is stopping her having crazy opinions. No one is stopping her trying to help people whose day job is killing her fellow Israeli civilians. No one is stopping her from ignoring the genuine problems of the people who voted for her. All they are doing is stopping the taxpayer paying for it. Let Hamas pay for her, apparently that is who she prefers to work for.

"The mandate implicitly denies Arab claims to national political rights in the area in favor of the Jews; the mandated territory was in effect reserved to the Jewish people for their self-determination and political development, in acknowledgment of the historic connection of the Jewish people to the land. Lord Curzon, who was then the British Foreign Minister, made this reading of the mandate explicit. There remains simply the theory that the Arab inhabitants of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have an inherent 'natural law' claim to the area. Neither customary international law nor the United Nations Charter acknowledges that every group of people claiming to be a nation has the right to a state of its own." To know more about rights and legitimacy : http://xrl.us/bhru9y

privilages given to Members of Knesset. This was more of a symbolic way of saying to a Parliamentarian who does not accept the right of Israel - the nation-state of the Jewish people - to exist, yet using the very democratic institutions of this national home of the Jewish people while collaborating with some of its mortal enemies.

how is it that zoabi dosen't live in gaza but represents the people and only the people of gaza she is not from gaza and they didn't vote for her. if she cares so much for the gazans why doesn't she go live there

When you speak and act against your country from a public podium you are committing a grave error and democracy must deprive you of your rights. I would welcome Ms. Zoabi, her intellect and her potential input to our society, if she used them correctly. She should portray herself as a patriotic Israeli and not try to be a champion of the Palestinians.

...ran cohen ostensibly writes this piece in "defense of democracy", and yet close examination reveals that it is actually his platform to attack m.k. ben-ari (twice!) ...in addition to this, he unintentionally puts his foot in his mouth when he defends zoabi's protest of the "blockade imposed on gaza residents, who happen to be members of her own people" - please, my dear ran cohen, explain what this means, because according to folks like you, gazans are "palestinians" and zoabi is an "israeli-arab" - people like me understand that both of these nationalities are modern inventions, and it would seem that you concur - or do claim that the "palestinians" are "israeli-arabs", or are the "israeli-arabs" really "palestinians"? what utter nonsense, you give yourself away...

was wrong to join the [...] flotilla", but you condemn Knesset decision???? this is a very comfortable position of the Israeli left... as always... and Mr. Cohen... Zoabi represents her voters? Gazans voted for her??? and I thougt the Israeli Arabs voted for her... you mean, Israeli Arabs and Gazans are the same people? if yes, so let Zoabi and her people go to Gaza... what a leftist crap!!!!

Congratulations for having the courage to write this article, and for standing up for what is right

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd - Australia Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia , as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.. Separately, Rudd angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote: 'IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT.. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians. ' 'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom' 'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!' 'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.' 'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.' 'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.' 'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.'

evil.We are at war with Hamas,these people are shooting rockets into Israel.Zoabi is a member of the Knesset,she should support the country she lives in.Hamas preachers hate and violence.The result there people suffer and this is a tragedy.Hamas must take the blame for what its doing to its people.

Mr Cohen should go back to school and learn what democracy really means since treason has nothing to do with it.

You want to committ suicide, be my guest. But, leave me & the rest of the sane people out of it. You screwy leftists have caused us nothing but damage, cost lives for nothing, and still you go on, not learning a damn thing from experience. I'm sick of the BS rhetoric, you've turned language itself into a parody, you & your ilk are the true disciples of George Orwell, you've made a joke out of our noblest ideas & values. Democracy. What the hell do you know about democracy? All you want is to undermine democracy, you & your Islamic friends.

I would suggest to Mr Cohen to read a post by Daniel Greenfield at his blogspot, SULTAN KNISH, ''The Immorality of the Moral High Ground.'' http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/

The rights of the parlament member goes till the point the same parlament member questions or treatens the existence of that parlament. One thing is a democracy and other thing is treason - she doesn't believes in the system she is part of.

All this hullabaloo is about crossing a line. The line between democracy where you have the right to freedom of belief and expression AND crossing over that line into treason. People must realize that in every freedom given to them, there is a line that must not be crossed.

The question is, what should the Knesset have done? Nothing? Is Ran Cohen saying that under cover of ‘democracy’ it is OK for members of parliament to support the enemies of the state they represent? But then, Zoabi is not really representing her true voters, is she? No, she has made it very clear who and what she represents. She could have continued to voice her views about the blockade from the Knesset. The fact that she decided to join the Gaza bound ship indicates where her loyalties lie. Notwithstanding the few privileges revoked, she is still in the Knesset – I would say that this is the essence of a true democracy.

Ran, there is no place in the Israel Knesset for anyone who wants to turn Israel into a "Palestine" if it is hard for them to accept the Jewish State of Israel then I am sure that any Islamic Arab State will accept them into there fold. Well I would then say "good riddence to bad rubbish" !!

Leftist tactics = 'Leftist Self-Serving Hypocrisy Rules'...This former 'MK' was not a 'civilian' and should have behaved within the parameters of her Knesset obligations to the State of Israel. If a right wing person had behaved in such a fashion, the leftists would not tolerate it!

the mk was not punished for voicing her opinions in the past, she has refused to stand or be in a room where hatikva is played...she has said that israel should not be a jewish state, she has called for the right of return of all palestinians....she has basically called for the end of israel not once was she sanctioned what she did this time was take action...she sat on a boat where (if you watch the lee vid you would understand) many on board knew that there were terrorists. she joined with others who were attempting to break a legal blockade she committed treason in attempting to give aid and comfort to the enemy. were she a member of congress in the united states, she would have been impeached, tried, convicted and hung. that is what a democracy does to traitors. i suggest the author do more research before he states such an idiotic opinion

Even within Democracy there are limits. in the United states the classic example is someone yelling fire in a crowded movie theater. The person yelling fire would be arrested. Yes, arrested! in the united States. Why? because speech or actions that could cause harm to the public is unlawful.. A knesset memeber should no better than anyone else since they are the ones creating rules to protect society. There are limits in a Democracy without limits Democracy would turn into Anarchy. The knesset had no choice but to preserve the very basic responsibilty of Government and that is to protect its citizens and the Democratic principles of the state.

If Zoabi was to be tossed and her seat given to a member of a Jewish party, then you would be right. But it's not. Zoabi's seat will be given to another Arab to keep on representing her Arab constituents after she leaves. Thus there is no attack on the principles of democracy. You seem to mistake why Zoabi was kicked out. In your mind, Zoabi is kicked out because she's Arab and was only doing what Arabs do. But that's not why she was voted out - she was voted out for conduct unbecoming a Knesset member. It is not the place of Knesset members to abuse their privileges for their own benefit and their own beliefs. If she really represents people who identify with the flotilla, it is up to her constituents - not her - to get on a flotilla. Does Obama, being the Commander in Chief, actually fight on the field of battle? Do Israeli ambassadors in the US and elsewhere actually march in the crowd during pro-Israel marches? Would Dutch ambassadors use diplomatic immunity to transfer marijuana (since it's legal in the Netherlands and thus in their vehicles as well)? Of course not. They are representatives and when they became elected they lost many of the rights they had as private citizens. If these representatives want their rights back, they can leave the Knesset.

Ran Cohen is correct that the Knesset should not be taking vindictive steps against any of its members. However, Cohen is off-base when he equates having anti-democratic values with some "right" to espouse the dismantling of society. Why is Cohen teaching instead of in the Knesset? Because his Meretz Party and its ideology are being abandoned by the Israeli electorate. Not just Cohen and others are out, but there is every reason to believe that in the next Knesset elections, Meretz will go the way of the dodo bird and Tehiya (the party that could be construed as its right-wing doppleganger). Is the Knesset hurting itself? I don't think so. There's too much inherent stability built into it for all the members, including the Arabs who want to topple the country. Has the Knesset been hurt by Meretz? I think so. If you look at Meretz's ideology and principles, you'll see that they've all been abandoned over the years in favor of the golden calf of "withdrawal from the territories". Meretz used to be a social democratic party for change, for empowering the people, for the environment, for women and minorities. As it lost seats in the Knesset over the years, it failed to revive itself and instead abandoned more and more of its ideologies to the point where today, the only thing Meretz stands for is "end the occupation," not social justice. Of course the voters have abandoned Meretz in droves. Meretz barely represents 3% of the voting public! And instead of figuring out what went wrong, the ex-MKs like Cohen themselves abandoned Meretz to the point where its current leader blames everybody but the Meretz leadership for their demise. As Geula Cohen faded into obscurity along with her ideology, so fades Meretz. Too bad. Israel today is sorely lacking a strong social democratic voice and nobody (especially the Labor Party) is filling the void. I like Ran Cohen as an MK - he should go back into the Meretz central committee and try to save the party from itself. However, it's probably too late. Just as Zuabi will fade into a footnote, so too will Meretz.

I hate to pile on but Ran Cohen’s article makes him appear to be a typical left wing sympathizer. It is fortunate that the flotilla farce has failed to achieve any of its goals which include weakening Israel’s security. Another goal was to deceive the world into believing the Gazas were living in crisis. The flotilla movement also wanted to convince the world that breaking the naval blockade would alleviate the Gazans of their suffering. None of these goals, in any way serves Israel’s interests. Where MK Zoabi went wrong is that she willingly used the status of her high office to give assistance and credibility to Israel’s enemies. Her efforts nearly caused the deaths and capture of members of her own military. If the flotillas had been successful Israel’s security would have been weakened and the lives of her citizens, both Arab and Jew would have been endangered. In light of this it appears to me that Zoabi got off very lightly. For Mr. Cohen to imply that Zoabi was in some way mistreated mystifies me. Any reasonable person using a little common sense would realize that there was something fundamentally wrong and dangerous with Zoabi’s conduct. If Mr. Cohen doesn’t understand this then it is possible that he has spent too much time in the world of academia. If Zoabi didn’t understand that her actions crossed the line and could possibly earn her some severe repercussions then I fail to see how a person so shortsighted could occupy a Knesset seat. Perhaps it is true that she is simply a reflection her constituency