Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, who heads Yisrael Beytenu, said Monday that his party intends to resubmit a court motion asking that the Balad party be disqualified from running for Israel's Knesset.
Liberman wrote on his Facebook page that “The Balad party has turned into an arm of Hamas, and it helps it while using the Knesset for promoting terrorism, and taking advantage of its Knesset members' parliamentary immunity.”
"After its previous leader, Azmi Bishara, escaped the country because he was suspected of espionage against Israel and assisting Hezbollah, the Balad members continue their activity against the state, and suffice it to mention their trip to Hamas stronghold Qatar in the course of Operation Protective Edge, and the harsh incitement by MK Hanin Zoabi against IDF soldiers.” He added that Zoabi even claimed that the abduction and murder of three teenage yeshiva students do not constitute terrorism.
"Yisrael Beytenu has led, in the past, to the disqualification of the of Balad from running for the Knesset, but the High Court overturned this decision,” he noted.
"We shall go back and renew our motion to disqualify this party of terrorists from vying for the Knesset because today, no one can ignore the harsh and provocative steps that Balad members take against the state of Israel, which expressly contradict the law.”
Balad's party colleague, MK Basel Ghattas, voiced support on Monday for Zoabi's latest inflammatory statements. He told IDF Radio that ISIS is a cruel and murderous organization, but unlike the IDF it had not committed crimes against humanity.
In an interview for Channel 2 News Online, Zoabi said that IDF soldiers are “worse terrorists than ISIS." While ISIS members “kill one person each time with their knife, the IDF [kills] tens of Palestinians with one button,” she said. She called on people not to enlist to the IDF or to ISIS: “They are both murderous armies, they have no border or red line.”