On the day he returned from a month-long suspension from the Knesset, gaffe-prone MK Oren Hazan (Likud) was already embroiled in another scandal.
During the plenary session on Monday evening, Hazan turned to MK Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin and reportedly began to tease her Zionist Union faction for, in his opinion, not condemning the left-wing NGO Breaking the Silence.
As the Knesset members dispersed to go home, Hazan reportedly waited for Nahmias-Verbin in the Knesset parking garage, where he continued to needle her, saying, "Ayelet, I used to think you were a human being, but it turns out you're sub-human."
The stunned MK lost her cool and responded, "You weren't here a month and things were quiet. You don't talk to me like that. You're the Likud party's punishment."
Hazan then accused Nahmias-Verbin of being jealous of him, to which she spat back, "Of what do I have to be jealous? What have you done in your life to make me jealous of you."
Sources close to Hazan also assert that Nahmias-Verbin called him "zero" and a "dog" despite his attempts to calm her. Those close to Nahmias-Verbin, meanwhile, insist Hazan continued to provoke her.
The fiery exchange reportedly lasted several minutes until someone thought to call a Knesset officer to separate the two parliamentarians.
"The MKs know Hazan, as they know me," Nahmias-Verbin asserted after the fight. "I have never shouted at or argued with Knesset members. It's not my style. The month he wasn't in the Knesset it was simply pleasant to go to work. There were no arguments or unnecessary things. But he would not stop blackening my name inside the plenum and after. I had no choice but to answer him."
Nahmias-Verbin said she will file a complaint with the Knesset Ethics Committee - the same body which sanctioned Hazan for his comments against disabled MK Karin Elharar (Yesh Atid).