On Monday, the Knesset held a session on “Stopping settler violence,” an initiative of MKs Mossi Raz (Meretz), Ibtisam Mar’ana (Labor), and Osama Saadi (Joint List), along with the extreme left-wing organizations Yesh Din, Breaking the Silence, and Peace Now.
According to the organizers of the initiative, they were motivated by “record-high numbers of attacks by West Bank settlers in recent weeks.” They also alleged that, ”There have been 416 terrorist attacks perpetrated by Jews in the first half of the year alone.”
MK Itamar Ben Gvir, head of the Otzma Yehudit party, made a sudden entrance to the Knesset during the special session, and suggested to those present that they stand for a moment’s silence in memory of Eli Kay, murdered in a terrorist attack on Sunday in Jerusalem. He then told his unwilling audience, “You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
The left-wing Knesset members responded by shouting at Ben Gvir, “You’re the terrorist!” Knesset ushers then removed Ben Gvir from the conference room.
Following the incident, MK Mossi Raz said, “We send our condolences to the Kay family. Violence is violence. We have just seen what settler violence looks like. There should have been Knesset members from the settler movement sitting here alongside us, telling us that they are opposed to people directing violence against Palestinians. But there are no such Knesset members.”