Tally Gotliv
Tally GotlivErik Marmor/Flash 90

The Knesset Ethics Committee on Tuesday sanctioned MK Tally Gotliv (Likud), after she blamed Supreme Court President Esther Hayut for a ramming attack in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem last month.

Gotliv will be prevented from making speeches in the plenum for two meetings and will also be barred from speaking in Knesset committees for three meetings.

Gotliv caused an uproar last month after she tweeted following the Ramot attack, "I blame the President of the Supreme Court for the attack. I blame her for the sense of chaos felt by the people of Israel. I blame her for the destruction and for causing serious harm to democracy and the rule of law."

She went on and criticized Hayut, "She frightened people over the right-wing government. Not over the reform. So what if there is chaos here, so what if our enemies turn on us because they recognize a weakness among us, everything is kosher on the way to overthrowing a right-wing government."

Gotliv refused to apologize for the tweet despite being urged by Twitter users and journalists from both the right and the left to delete it.

She reacted angrily to Tuesday’s punishment and announced that she would not vote in the Constitution Committee on changing the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee.

"I am ashamed of the decision of the Ethics Committee, which intimidates me despite the fact that a member of the Knesset from the Likud faction, MK Amit Halevi, and Shas representative Yinon Azoulay are also sitting in the committee," Gotliv wrote to members of her faction.

She added, "The members of the committee on behalf of the coalition should be ashamed of themselves for denying me the right to speak in the plenum and in the committee for two days over my remarks about President Hayut, whom I perceived as guilty of the attack and for causing a rift among my people."

"Beyond the essential immunity that I have, the freedom of expression, my right and duty to express my opinion, who is this committee that votes unanimously in these circumstances? The essential immunity is clear and important. Apparently the Likud seeks to calm the spirits at my expense. Good luck to you. I, as you should remember, am not a puppet. I will return to work when my right to speak is returned to me. I understand that this will lead to a delay in the votes, but I am sorry. By the way, who needs enemies when the Ethics Committee, which includes our representative, behaves like this? I’ve taken note," she concluded.

The Ethics Committee on Tuesday also decided to suspend for one day the chairman of the Joint List Party, MK Ayman Odeh, over a physical confrontation he had with Itamar Ben Gvir at a hospital, as well as following his call to Arab policemen, "You should throw away your weapons, it's a shame to enlist in the security forces."

The Committee also issued a warning to MK Hanoch Milwidsky of the Likud following an inappropriate comment to MK Ofer Cassif of the Joint List. MK Ariel Kallner of the Likud was reprimanded for the same reason.