Communication Minister Ayoub Kara (Likud) has called for a member of the Arab Joint List party to be stripped of his Knesset seat after he participated in a celebration marking the release of a convicted terrorist from prison.
Speaking with Arutz Sheva, Kara said the Knesset should strip MK Abd al-Hakim Haj Yahya of his seat, after it was revealed that Haj Yahya took part in a celebration last week for Mohammed Khalf, a resident of Jatt who was freed after a 12-year prison sentence for terror activity.
According to a report by Yediot Ahronot, Khalf had become involved in terror through his acquaintance with a Hamas terrorist by the name of Wael Zakala, whom Khalf employed in his carpentry business. Zakala introduced Khalf to the terror cell in which he was involved.
“As time passed, Khalf began to help Zakala’s terror cell more and more, including trying to obtain weapons for it,” the report reads. “The beginning of 2005 saw a gradual increase in cooperation between the two. Zakala, who saw that he was having difficulty obtaining materials in the Samaria region for the preparation of explosive devices for his terrorist cell, asked Khalf to take advantage of his access to such substances as an Israeli citizen. In March 2005, Khalf purchased materials used to manufacture explosives, including potassium and sulfur, and hid them in paper bags, traveling to Tulkarm to hand them over to the Zakala.”
Following the revelation, Minister Kara spoke with Arutz Sheva, calling for Haj Yahya’s removal from the Knesset.
“We need to remove terror collaborators who meet with terrorists from the Knesset; nothing less will do.”
Haj Yahya’s participation in the terrorist’s release party, added Kara, constituted an act of defiance “against Israel’s law enforcement authorities.”
“We need to come up with laws to deal with terrorism; to illustrate that Western laws – including those of Israel – have no answer [to the problem of terrorism]. We need to make our laws fit the reality of the Middle East.”
Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Nava Boker (Likud) also called for Haj Yahya’s removal from the Knesset.
“We need to throw him out of the Israeli Knesset. How long will we keep paying terror supporters?”