An intruder jumped onto the floor of the Knesset from a guest balcony Wednesday and tried to attack an Arab Knesset member before being dragged away by another lawmaker and security officials.
The intruder, identified only as an Italian national in his early 30s, jumped from the press gallery just as Knesset member Hashem Mahameed of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality concluded a speech on the need to reunite Palestinian families in the territories with their families abroad.
The man jumped right onto the row of seats where Mahameed was seated, alongside another Arab Knesset member, Abdul Wahab Darawshe of the Arab Democratic Party.
As soon as the man approached Mahameed and Darawshe, Knesset member Haim Dayan of the opposition Tsomet party seized the man and, together with Knesset guards, dragged the attacker out of the room.
No one was hurt in the incident.
An initial investigation has indicated that the man arrived at the entrance to the press gallery. He appeared to be looking in his pocket for an entry permit when he suddenly ran past the guards and jumped from the balcony onto the main floor.
Mahameed drew wide public criticism several months ago when he appeared at a rally in the Gaza Strip and told his Palestinian audience that they should resist “Israeli occupation with all means at their disposal.”
As a result of this speech, his parliamentary immunity was partially removed.
Wednesday’s incident was the second such attack on a Knesset member in almost 40 years.
In the late 1950s, an apparently unbalanced Israeli, Moshe Douwek, threw a hand grenade toward the front table in the Knesset where the Cabinet was seated, slightly wounding several ministers, including then Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.
As a result, a bullet-proof glass partition was installed between the public gallery and the Knesset floor. But the VIP and press gallery remains unenclosed.
Knesset Speaker Shevach Weiss issued a statement Wednesday describing the incident as “very grave.”
He instructed the house officer to suspend whoever should have been responsible for preventing the attacker’s entrance.
Because of the Independence Day holiday, the JTA Daily News Bulletin will not be published Monday, July 5.
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