The Knesset Ethics Committee announced today (Wednesday) the punishments of MKs Iman Khatib-Yasin and Aida Touma-Suleiman for their conduct in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre of October 7.
MK Khatib-Yasin (Ra'am) denied that the massacre occurred during an interview earlier with Knesset TV, in which she was asked about the IDF spokesman's film about the October 7 massacre.
Khatib-Yasin admitted that she did not go watch the video herself but said that according to what she had heard "first-hand" it did not appear that babies were slaughtered or women were raped.
"What happened is difficult. For me, it is something terrible, something very big that cannot be tolerated, but we do not get involved in the semantics of things. I am a religious Muslim woman - and what happened goes against the values of Islam," said the MK. "However, it cannot be separated from everything that came before it. It doesn't justify it, but what is happening now in Arab society is difficult."
Hours after her remarks drew widespread condemnation, she issued an apology: "I was wrong, I regret it and apologize. I had no intention of downplaying or denying the shocking massacre on the seventh of October and the horrible acts against women, babies, and the elderly who were murdered in the south."
The Ethics Committee voted to suspend Khatib-Yasin for a month and to withhold her salary for two weeks.
MK Touma-Suleiman (Hadash) also received a suspension of her salary for two weeks and was suspended from the Knesset for two months for falsely accusing the IDF of using white phosphorous bombs against al-Shifa hospital in Gaza and of attacking humanitarian corridors used by civilians fleeing the fighting in Gaza.