Knesset in Uproar over Visit of Green Party Delegation

Disorder erupted in the Knesset today as an allegedly anti-Israel six-member delegation representing West Germany’s controversial Green Party took their seats in the VIP section of the visitors gallery. Shouting and a shoving match between two MKs threw the chamber into an uproar.

The Greens were escorted to their seats by Uri Avneri, a former MK and now a member of the Progressive List for Peace. As the visitors entered, MKs Geula Cohen and Rafael Eitan of the rightwing Tehiya Party unfurled a paper sign in their direction which read, in Hebrew and German, “Greens-Browns–Raus” (Out). “Browns” was an obvious reference to the Nazi.

Tawfiq Taubi, an Arab member of the Hadash (Communist) Party, rose to snatch at the placard. He was engaged in a sharp verbal conflict with Cohen who, at one point, screamed at the veteran MK, “You too are a guest here.” The altercation turned violent when Tehiya Party leader Yuval Neeman sprang from his seat to aid his colleagues. He shoved Taubi who shoved him back until ushers separated the two.

The Green Party delegation, on a tour of the Middle East, is the second to visit Israel this year. The earlier group, who visited before the July Knesset elections, expressed support for the Progressive List, a coalition of Israeli Arabs and Jews who support a Palestinian state. It was considered sympathetic to Israel, however, though at adds with its government’s policies.

The group that arrived yesterday, via Jordan, is openly prejudiced against Israel, according to Israeli officials in Bonn. One of its members, Brigitte Heinrich, was refused entry to Israel because she had served a 21-month prison sentence in Germany for aiding German and Palestinian terrorists. She was turned back at the Allenby Bridge and returned to Amman.

Haaretz reported today that the Green Party leadership in Bonn had informed Israeli politicians that the group of six does not represent the party as a whole and is not official.

The Green Party, which developed from a group of West German pacifists and ecologists, has been accused by Jews and non-Jews in Germany of emulating the Nazis in some ways. When the party was elected to the Bundestag for the first time two years ago, several of its officials were found to have had Nazi pasts. Some were dismissed but others retained their positions. The party is anti-Western and its attitude toward Israel generally has been negative, leading to accusations of anti-Semitism.