Knesset Members Fed Up with Invective, Seek to Raise Level of Debate

An all-party group of Knesset members launched an initiative today to raise the level of parliamentary debate which has sunken to new laws in recent weeks. The drive is headed by Yosef Sapir of the Shai faction and Deputy Speaker Meir Abramowitz of the Aguda bloc.

It was prompted by the violent rhetoric which has characterized recent Knesset sessions, replete with personal insults, curses and catcalls. The expulsion of members from the chamber has been an almost daily occurrence.

The issue come to a head this week after an exceptionally vitriolic exchange between Uri Avneri of the Sheli faction and justice Minister Samuel Tamir of the Democratic Movement. At a session last week, Shmuel Toledano of Shai was called an “anti-Semite” by Haim Druckman of the National Religious Party. He in turn called Druckman “nevelah” (carcass).

MONDAY’S SESSION ONE OF WORST

Harsh words capped by personal insults are not an unusual occurrence in Israel’s boisterous parliamentary chamber. But a limit seems to have been reached on Monday. The principal antagonists were Avneri and Tamir. The immediate issue was a recent anti-government rally attended by prominent Israeli Arabs in Nazareth which gave the Communist Mayor of that town, Tawfik Zayyad, a platform to denounce Israel’s continued occupation of the West Bank.

Zayyad, who happens to be a Knesset member of the Hodash Communist Party, repeated some of his remarks and insisted that the Palestinians have a right to fight the “unjust occupation” by force. MK Roni Milo of Herut and some members of the apposition Labor Party attacked Zayyad from the floor. Milo called him “an accessory to child murder at Misgav Am.”

Zayyad’s statements in Nazareth are under investigation by the Attorney General to determine if they constituted sedition. This may have prompted Avneri to launch an attack on the Justice Minister. He said Tamir was making accusations against the peace camp in Israel which could endanger their lives from groups of right wing Jewish extremists. Several Knesset doves, including Laborite Yossi Sarid and David Glass of the National Religious Party, have received anonymous death threats recently.

Avneri also claimed that Tamir, a one-time member of the Irgun led by Menachem Begin, never saw action and never served in the army.

Tamir reported by casting aspersions on the popular, often rocey weekly magazine Hoolam Hazeh, edited by Avneri. “You are a man who lives on filth, “he shouted, to which Avneri shouted back, “You are an idiot. “He demanded to see Tamir’s military service card. Tamir alleged that Avneri had once told him that he admired the works of Goebbels, Stalin and Hitler’s Mein Kampf. “Disciple of Goebbels,” was his characterization of his fellow MK.

Livid with rage, Avneri demanded that the Knesset Deputy Speaker, Meir Abramowitz of the Aguda Israel faction, silence Tamir. But Abramowitz refused, telling Avneri, “You said worse things.”