Oren Hazan
Oren HazanKnesset spokeswman

MK Oren Hazan (Likud) demanded more respect on Monday, despite his being #30 on the Likud list and the youngest MK in the current Knesset, after reportedly being rebuffed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. 

Hazan has demanded to put the issue of monitoring Palestinian Arab workers' entry and exit into and out of Judea-Samaria on the public bus system back on the table, after the decision to launch a tentative monitoring program was scrapped last week.

The issue has complicated bus service to and from his hometown of Ariel and Hazan had promised to address the transport problem as part of his platform. 

However, faction chairman MK Tzahi Hanegbi (Likud) has asked for Hazan not to get involved. Netanyahu reportedly responded as well, telling Hazan to "talk about whatever you want." 

Hazan fired back by telling Netanyahu "not to treat me like a child." 

Hazan noted that Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon has refused to address the demands of Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria to change the current status quo in the bus system, which has become overcrowded with Arab workers commuting back and forth to work and has left the Jewish population scrambling for alternatives to get home after buses become too full during rush hour. 

"I will continue doing everything in my power to change the reality for Jews in Judea-Samaria, which includes women and children who are afraid to return home just because of the Palestinian workers," Hazan concluded. 

Sexual harassment and overcrowding have become somewhat commonplace on Judea-Samaria buses, so much so that a special hearing on the region's "nightmarish" public transport was held in November 2013.  

It is also worth noting that the ban, if it would have been implemented, would not have applied to other Palestinian Arabs, for example students or faculty at Ariel University, but specifically to the large numbers of manual laborers whose journey until now have been subsidized by Israeli taxpayers' money.