Nariman Tamimi, 43, and Nour Naji Tamimi, 21 appeared in an Israeli military court Thursday after a viral video showed them and their sister Ahed kicking and slapping soldiers in Judea and Samaria.
Showing up to greet them was MK Ayman Odeh, who heads the predominantly Arab Joint List party.
Odeh said that he had attended the Tamimis arraignment at the IDF's Ofer Prison to support the women, whom he described as 'freedom fighters'. Odeh was greeted warmly by the girls' family and posed for selfies with admirers.
"I'm with the Tamimi's from Nabi Saleh. I was told that 'the struggle is a way of life, for our children and for the older ones among us, who will not stop until the end of the occupation" tweeted Odeh.
Odeh has a history of controversial actions. In October Odeh spoke with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and congratulated him on the efforts to reach a reconciliation agreement between the PA and Hamas, which led MK Oren Hazan (Likud) to call him a "terrorist in a suit".
The Tamimi's were detained in a case that has set Israeli and Arab social media alight.
The video filmed in the village of Nabi Saleh shows Nour and her cousin Ahed Tamimi, 17, approaching two Israeli soldiers, before shoving, kicking and slapping them while filming on mobile phones.
The soldiers did not respond in the face of what appears to be an attempt to provoke rather than seriously harm them. The Tamimi family has been known to harass soldiers in a similar fashion in the past, but no action has been taken to arrest any of them until now.