Rightwing and Leftwing Knesset Members Clash During a Visit to the Knesset by a Soviet Delegation

Knesset ushers and guards were forced to intervene Monday in a clash between left-and right-wing members during a visit by a Soviet delegation.

The three-member delegation from the Soviet Peace Committee, visiting Israel at the invitation of the Hadash (Communist) Party, was taken to the Knesset by their hosts, who wished to show them the parliament and introduce them to members.

They met in a private dining room for about two hours with Knesset members from the Labor Party and leftwards, but when they entered the Knesset members’ lounge and cafeteria they were met by Geula Cohen, Yuval Neeman and Eliezer Waldman of the rightwing Tehiya Party displaying posters demanding free emigration for Soviet Jewry.

Communist member Charley Biton grabbed the banner from Cohen and tore it up. But the fiery Cohen, who had apparently anticipated his reaction, unfurled another poster.

SHOVING AND FISTICUFFS

Insults soon gave way to shoving and fisticuffs, and the Knesset ushers intervened to stand between the rival factions, but not before Kach member Meir Kahane physically attacked Biton.

Cohen fell to the floor. She later claimed that she had been pushed down by Biton, but he claimed that she had lain down on the floor with her poster.

The guards escorted the Soviet visitors, appearing white and shaken, from the building.

Knesset Speaker Shlomo Hillel denounced the incident, described by parliamentary correspondents as one of the most serious ever seen in the Knesset. He said that he would ask the House Committee to give him increased powers to punish members who interfere with the normal work of the parliament and prevent visitors from coming to see Israel’s parliamentary democracy in action.

Cohen and other rightwing members demanded that Biton be removed from the Knesset “for at least a year.”