In a virtual snapshot of ill will and bad feelings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict generates, so-called leaders of the respective population/political sectors followed the speech by Vice President Pence before the Israeli parliament with a remarkable display of [not very original] name-calling. The sign-holding, walk-out demonstration by Arab Israeli lawmakers from the Joint List – an umbrella of Arab Israeli parties — was criticized by epithets that included “crass,” “disrespectful,” “obnoxious,” and “juvenile.” Those who actually walked out were called “traitors” by an Israeli cabinet minister; while Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said the behavior of those who walked out showed disloyalty to the state and proved that they are the “representatives of terrorist organizations in the Knesset.” Prime Minister Netanyahu called the Joint List a “disgrace,” but the Joint-List had words of its own for Netanyahu, telling the PM ‘back-at-you’ in a statement and adding its assessment that together, President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu form a new “axis of evil.” If anyone is due credit for offering a modicum of originality it was no doubt Knesset member Esawi Freige, an Arab Israeli who is a member of the far-left Meretz Party. Freige told the daily Haaretz that the Knesset session featuring Pence was “like the ballroom of the Titanic…Everyone was celebrating even as the ship’s officers were steering it toward an iceberg. The people celebrating in the Knesset today were celebrating the end of the diplomatic process.” Interestingly, the statement issued by the Joint List that described Pence’s address as “a disgraceful [display of] support [in favor of] annexation, colonization and the continued occupation of Palestine,” was issued before the Veep spoke.
See TML’s Dima Abumaria at: https://themedialine.org/news/chaos-erupts-arab-israeli-parliamentarians-boycott-pence-speech/ [1]