Sir, - Although I hold Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein in the highest regard and consider him to be one of the most gifted and suitable occupants of high public office, I find myself in profound disagreement with his judgment regarding MK Haneen Zoabi. I was deeply disturbed to read the headline "Edelstein rejects calls to punish Zoabi for saying kidnappers are not terrorists."
While one may agree or disagree about the parameters of free speech, Zoabi, while serving as a member of Knesset, has time and again tested those limits with anti-Israel diatribes. She has clearly demonstrated her willingness to translate words into deeds by her participation in the attempt to violate the Israeli blockade of Gaza that resulted in the infamous Marmara Affair.
In her latest heinous offense she not only declared that the kidnappers were non-terrorists, but she offered to the world a 'justification' of terrorism. Since, she explained, the Palestinians are so desperate, they have no means of gaining reprieve for their plight other than through these extreme acts of despair.
Not only does Zoabi do violence to the truth about the condition of Arab lives alongside the State of Israel, she offers this as an excuse for the kidnapping of innocent civilian teenagers. It's obvious that her same pernicious reasoning justifies rocket attacks, suicide bombings, and Hamas's call to wipe Israel off the map!
ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva
[Image credit: Sergio Yahni]
[Image credit: Sergio Yahni]
