MK Oren Hazan (Likud) told Arutz Sheva on Wednesday that he was no longer surprised by the statements made by Arab MKs against Israel, but also urged Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to take action.
Hazan was responding to remarks made by MK Jamal Zahalka (Joint List), who said in a television interview he “would rather die than sing the Israeli national anthem” and said the Israeli flag “is worse than a rag.”
"When I hear a verbal terrorist who says that it is better to die than sing Hatikvah and that the flag that I admire and love and which is our national symbol is nothing less than a rag, this house has to scream," Hazan said.
Turning to the Knesset Speaker, he continued, "Yuli Edelstein, if you’re hearing me, wake up. Maybe it's all right with you to share a chair with someone who praises shaheeds. There cannot be a situation in which you will not do something about people who trample our symbols. I understand that your dream is to be president, but is the main thing to be president and to hell with the state? Wake up, Mr. Speaker, before it's too late."
Zahalka is the latest Arab MK to make statements against the state in whose parliament he serves.
Last year, three MKs from the Joint List visited with families of terrorists who murdered Israelis and later defended their actions.
Other examples have included Arab MKs openly defying an order from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to visit the Temple Mount, while also urging Arabs to prevent Jews from visiting the site.
Earlier this week, MK Hanin Zoabi said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu "should be tried at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, because he is a war criminal."
In response, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said, "All the Joint List are war criminals, every one of you. You exploit the weaknesses and advantages of a democratic state to destroy us from within, we have no illusions.”
Hazan recently criticized Joint List chairman MK Ayman Odeh, after Odeh telephone Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to congratulate him on the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah.
"Ayman Odeh is a terrorist in a suit. What he managed to hide for two years in which he was smiling, he exposed with one phone call with Haniyeh," Hazan said, announcing that he would file a complaint with the police against Odeh for illegal contact with a terrorist organization.