Zuhair Bahloul
Zuhair BahloulAmir Levy/Flash 90

Arab MK Zuhair Bahloul (Zionist Union) on Thursday repeated his claims made earlier in the week, according to which the Arab terrorist who two weeks ago stabbed and wounded a soldier in Hevron together with an accomplice was not a "terrorist."

The issue of the terrorist has gained attention given that he was shot by a soldier as he lay wounded minutes after the attack. Currently the soldier is on trial for manslaughter, even though he argues he shot the terrorist over concerns he was moving to detonate a hidden bomb belt.

"The word 'terrorist' is becoming all-encompassing and turns every Palestinian into one," said Bahloul during an interview with Army Radio on Thursday morning.

According to the MK, only terrorists who murder an entire family warrant the designation "terrorist," whereas those who murder soldiers -serving in the army of the state where Bahloul is a parliament member - are completely legitimized in their actions.

"I agreed that one who destroys the lives of a whole family is a terrorist," conceded Bahloul. "They are both terrorists and murderers who deserve all of their punishment. Anyone who murdered someone, who destroyed the life of an innocent or ambushed a family returning from work, is a terrorist."

The Arab MK even allowed that families of "settlers," namely Jews living in Judea and Samaria, also have the right not to be butchered. But those rights do not apply to soldiers serving to keep the state of Israel safe, according to the Zionist Union politician.

"People who attacked families in their sleep cannot be considered as terrorists if they attack a military base," he told Army Radio.

"Struggle for freedom"

Bahloul claimed that he legitimized the terrorist in Hevron and refused to label him as such because "changes" must occur in the verbal treatment of the terror attacks in order to advance diplomatic processes between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs.

"Anyone who struggles for his freedom and for his independence is a terrorist in the eyes of the Israelis," he said, justifying the terror attacks.

"From the point of view of the (Israeli) people, every Palestinian who struggles his struggle in order to remove the injustice of the occupation is thought to be a terrorist."

Nitpicking as far as which sudden lethal attacks are "terror" and which are not, he said of the Hevron attack, "I agree that the stabber is a murderer, but he is not a terrorist. My problem is that this word is becoming too all-inclusive and turns every Palestinian into a terrorist."

In response to Bahloul's comments, the Jewish Home party noted on how he is a member of the Labor faction in the Zionist Union party, which presumes to be a Zionist movement.

"The Labor party is slowly turning from post-Zionist to pro-Palestinian. Yitzhak Rabin is turning in his grave," said the party in a statement.

Bahloul just last May stated that Labor is not a Zionist party, emphasizing that "Zionist Union" was just a "temporary" name. At the time he added, "I cannot be Zionist because I am an Arab."

Bahloul also provided testimony on behalf of the family of an Arab citizen of Israel from the Galilee convicted of terrorism in a 2012 trial.

Although Bahloul did not praise the terror acts of Milad Khatib, he did not condemn them either, and gave the testimony in the context of a positive character recommendation for the terrorist's family on behalf of the defense.