Lawyers for MK Hanin Zoabi of the Arab Joint List have reached a plea bargain arrangement with the State Attorney's Office, regarding charges filed against her following a 2014 incident in which she hurled invective at Arab policemen.
She will admit to insulting a public servant and will be convicted of this offense. She will not, however, be convicted of racist incitement and threats.
Zoabi was charged in July of 2014 after she insulted policemen at a Nazareth court, in the course of a session in which Arab suspects were arraigned after rioting.
Zoabi poured verbal abuse on two Arab policemen who were present, saying "they are collaborating against their own people, we need to clean the floor with them," "let them fear from the shabab (youth)," and "we need to spit on their faces."
After refusing to obey a police summons for questioning over the course of a month, claiming at one point she had "no time" for the police investigation, Zoabi showed up for questioning after Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein ordered her to do so.
After police recommended that she be charged, Zoabi responded by claiming the decision to try her was a result "of the racist, fascist war atmosphere casting a shadow on all the authorities in Israel."
She said that she intends "to turn the discussions into the most political trial in the history of the state of Israel."