New Israeli gov’t appoints pro-PLO Arab MK to prestigious defense committee

In 2008, Arab MK Ibtisam Mara’ana said in a press interview that she would “destroy Zichron Yaakov, and that you [Jews] should return to the United States or Poland.”

By Aryeh Savir, TPS

Arab Member of Knesset (MK) Ibtisam Mara’ana of the Labor party was appointed on Tuesday as a substitute member of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, as part of the formulating of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s coalition.

The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is one of the most prestigious and most secretive in the Knesset, where Israel’s most sensitive issues are discussed.

Mara’ana stated after the appointment that “the foreign policy and security of the State of Israel is also mine, I have the right and duty as an elected official to be entrusted with it.”

Mara’ana has previously made a series of controversial statements, including remarks disparaging the Holocaust and state memorial days.

In February, Mara’ana was disqualified from running in the election by the Central Elections Committee, but the decision was repealed by the High Court of Justice.

In April, she told the Knesset that Palestinian Arab society is suffering from trauma and stress just like the Jews after the Holocaust, calling for a “mutual recognition of each other’s pain.”

In 2008, Mara’ana said in a press interview that she would “destroy Zichron Yaakov, and that you [Jews] should return to the United States or Poland.”

She also posted a Facebook post in which she expressed support for an Islamic Jihad terrorist who was on a hunger strike, called on the Tel Aviv Municipality to illuminate the municipal building with the colors of the PLO flag, and wrote in praise of Nakba Day, Israel’s Independence Day that the Arabs mourn as a catastrophe.