MK Tally Gotliv (Likud) spoke to Israel National News on Wednesday and expressed outrage over the Knesset Ethics Committee’s decision to discipline her, in response to her tweet in which she blamed Supreme Court President Esther Hayut for a ramming attack in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem last month.
Gotliv said that she does not at all understand the question of whether she has any regrets about her conduct. "I only regret the fact that [Likud MK] Amit Halevi dared to harm my reputation, my freedoms and my most basic parliamentary rights, which are the freedom of speech and the freedom to express an opinion."
"You have the right to think that my opinion is intolerable, and I have the right to say and express my opinion. You can think that you have a problem with my position regarding the Supreme Court, but when the right-wing is in power, and the representatives of the coalition vote unanimously on [Labor MK] Naama Lazimi’s and the Movement for the Quality of Government’s complaint against me, this is a day of mourning for the right," she added.
Asked whether she would be better off toning down her style, Gotliv said that the question should be toned down rather than her own words. "This is an outrageous and misogynistic question. Such a question would not have been asked of a male member of the Knesset. I do not apologize for my style or my poignancy. It is my duty and I do not believe in a different truth. I stand behind every word I say. I do not apologize and make it clear that history will speak about the most horrible period of abuse and harassment that we are currently experiencing under the auspices and initiative and direction of President Hayut, who dared to lie to the people of Israel and frighten them with a dictatorship when she commented on the judicial reform led by the coalition."
"There is no connection between dictatorship and the reform. We were forced to retreat and surrender to the madness that arose within us [by approving the softened version of the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee]. I say this with sadness because I would have expected the right not to surrender, but unlike President Hayut, who maintains her authorities and her power, I and we see before our eyes only the welfare and social stability of the people of Israel and its status in its own eyes and in the eyes of the nations of the world," she continued.
Criticizing the members of the coalition who voted against her in the Ethics Committee, Gotliv said, “The Immunity Law for Knesset members grants them substantial immunity for any expression. So if I say my opinion about the President of the Supreme Court, you play into the hands of the Attorney General? You play into the hands of the court? Who are you sucking up to? Who are you afraid of? I fear no one but God. My conscience stands behind every word that comes out of my mouth. It's a shame that we don't learn from the left. During Bennett’s term in office, there was no Ethics Committee for various reasons, and here a right-wing government just arrived and already the Ethics Committee exists and the coalition harms its own members."
As for the steps she plans to take now, MK Gotliv said that "if they prevent me from expressing a position in committees or in the plenum, then I do not intend to come to the plenum and to the committees except for votes on fundamental laws such as the Incapacitation Law and the law on changing the structure of the Judicial Selection Committee. Those who voted against me in such an unfair manner can replace me in the Constitution Committee and sit there and vote in my place."