MK Hanin Zoabi
MK Hanin ZoabiFlash 90

MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad), who was on the Mavi Marmara when IHH terrorists attacked IDF soldiers who boarded the ship, said Friday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s apology to Turkey over the Marmara incident is “not enough”.

Earlier, Netanyahu spoke on the phone with his Turkish counterpart and apologized for the deaths of nine Turks in a 2010 raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla. The two agreed to normalize the relations between the two countries.

In response, MK Zoabi said, “We’re talking about human life and about the killing of nine political activists.” She called for the establishment of an international commission of inquiry into the matter.

She added, “If Netanyahu wants to start a new phase with the world around him, and not simply be satisfied with the many hugs that Obama gave all around, he should know that he should direct his energies towards the Palestinian problem: the expulsion and the occupation, as his American friend said.”

Zoabi said that normalizing the relations with Turkey was not enough, and called the Mavi Marmara incident the “little crime.”

“The biggest crime was and still is the siege and occupation of the Palestinian people," she said.

"You want to apologize? Apologize to those you've kept under siege, that those nine activists were killed on their behalf, and begin to understand that there is no possibility of a normal Israeli life when it is accompanied by the settlements, the occupation, the siege and the persecution.”

video clip disseminated after the Marmara indicates that Zoabi knew of the planned attack on the IDF soldiers by the Turks on board in advance.

She has been caught rubbing elbows with senior Hamas terrorists. She has also been criticized for anti-Israel speeches, such as one saying that Israel has “no right to a normal life” and a more recent address claiming that “the Israeli occupation” was behind the murder of Israelis in Bulgaria.

Before the last elections, the Central Elections Committee banned Zoabi, under a clause requiring candidates and parties not to work against Israel's character as a Jewish, democratic state.

However, the Supreme Court later overturned the decision and allowed Zoabi to run.

Most recently Zoabi told Arutz Sheva that Israel should “prepare the prisons” if a law requiring Arab Israelis to enlist in the army is passed.

Zoabi said that Arab youth would rather go to jail or perform some form of civil service than enlist in the IDF. She also said that the entire Arab sector will resort to civil disobedience in the event that such legislation is passed.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)