Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) on Sunday evening responded to the summoning for questioning of MK Basel Ghattas (Joint List) on suspicion of having supplied electronic devices to terrorists imprisoned in Israel.
Ghattas, who is a member of the Balad faction of the Joint List, came under investigation following reports received by the Prison Service regarding his visits to terrorist prisoners.
According to the allegations, Ghattas sneaked cellular devices to jailed Hamas terrorists to enable them to help plan operations from behind bars.
Liberman said that the questioning of Ghattas is “the latest in a series of proofs that the ‘Joint List’ is actually the ‘Joint Spies and Traitors List’.
“From Azmi Bishara to Basel Ghattas, through the Israeli representatives on the Marmara Hanin Zoabi and other members - we will continue to act so that not only will they not be part of the Israeli Knesset - but will also not be Israeli citizens," he vowed.
MK Oren Hazan (Likud) said of Ghattas’s questioning, “It’s not for nothing that I make sure to call the Arab list ‘The Joint Palestinian Arab List’. This is a fifth column that has infiltrated the Knesset and does not hide its affinity, sympathy and connection to our worst enemies. On this list of shame, MK Ghattas ‘excels’ in his collaboration with our country's enemies, including the Hamas organization.”
Hazan continued, “This is a traitor who does not conceal his being a collaborator with the enemy. So I'm not surprised an investigation with such serious allegations has been opened against him, I’m only surprised as to why it opened only now. MK Ghattas belongs behind bars, and I expect that the Knesset Speaker will demand his immediate suspension or resignation.”
Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev (Likud) said that the “fifth column Balad party this time sent Basel Ghattas for another terror mission. Bishara directed missiles, Zoabi was with the terrorists on the Marmara and now Ghattas and his serious ties with terrorists and security prisoners.
“I call upon the Attorney General to conclude the investigation and make sure these Trojan horses do not serve in the Israeli Knesset,” she added.
Opposition leader MK Yitzhak Herzog (Zionist Union) called for an immediate investigation against MK Ghattas.
"Harming national security, cooperation with the enemy and any transferring of information and trade in the secrets of the state, require an immediate investigation using all necessary means,” Herzog said, adding, “if the allegations prove to be indeed true, an uncompromising punishment is required, regardless of religion and ethnicity.”
If he is found guilty, Ghattas would join Balad member and former MK Azmi Bishara as another active spy against the State of Israel while serving in the Knesset.
Bishara fled Israel in 2007, resigning his Knesset seat in absentia after Israeli authorities discovered he had signalled information and recommended targets to Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War.