The members of the young leadership of the Bayit Yehudi party on Tuesday asked Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and the members of the Knesset’s Ethics Committee to launch an investigation into remarks by Arab MK Afou Agbaria (Hadash), who said he supported a new Arab Intifada (violent uprising) during a speech at the Knesset.
On Monday evening, during the heated debate on the law which legalizes pirate Bedouin settlement in the Negev, Agbaria got into a verbal argument with Deputy Finance Minister Mickey Levy (Yesh Atid) and said, “I am in favor of a new Intifada, because you are causing a new Nakba in the Negev.”
The members of the Bayit Yehudi's young leadership said that in his remarks, Agbaria may have broken an article on sedition of the Israeli Penal Code for which the punishment is up to five years in prison.
In their letter, the youths noted that MK Agbaria’s remarks are "very serious", as they put it, "and there is real concern that extremist elements will depend on these words to launch a new Intifada."
They added that this is a real concern because "previous Intifadas claimed the lives of over 1,500 Israelis in years of terrorism.”
Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs, Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan (Bayit Yehudi) said on Tuesday that Agbaria should apologize for his remarks.
"Last night, during the debate on the regulation of the Bedouin settlement in the Negev, MK Afou Agbaria called for a new intifada. A member of the Israeli parliament cannot incite in the Knesset plenum. Even democracy has its limits. MK Agbaria should apologize and the sooner the better,” said Rabbi Ben-Dahan.
"The young leadership of the Bayit Yehudi has contacted the Attorney General to investigate the matter and I expect him to condemn Agbaria’s remarks,” he added.