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» » Ben-Gvir, Cassif exchange harsh insults at Knesset 'apartheid convention' - The Jerusalem Post

Ben-Gvir, Cassif exchange harsh insults at Knesset 'apartheid convention' - The Jerusalem Post

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MKs from the coalition and opposition caused a ruckus on Tuesday when they held a convention accusing Israel of apartheid at the Knesset. 
The event was organized by MK Mossi Raz, a Jew, whose Meretz party just joined the government, and Joint List Aida Touma-Suleiman. 
“There are people in here who still refuse to listen to the truth,” Touma-Suleiman said after Religious Zionist Party MK Itamar Ben-Gvir infiltrated the convention and shouted at presenters. 
The convention featured a shouting match between Ben-Gvir and Joint List MK Ofer Cassif. Cassif cursed at Ben Gvir and called him a “fascist.” Ben-Gvir responded by calling him a “terrorist.” This shouting match continued throughout the convention, interrupting many of the speakers.  
“You support terror and you know that,” Ben-Gvir shouted at Touma-Suleiman.  
Yamina MK Avir Kahra was also removed from the convention after his own shouting match with Joint List MKs. 
One of the speakers was BDS activist and Human Rights Watch employee Omar Shakir. He serves as the Israel and Palestine country director and has been involved in countless anti-Israel initiatives and boycotts. He joined the convention over Zoom since Israel denied him a work visa to enter Israel because of his anti-Israel activism.  
“[The Israeli] government’s policies have been to methodically favor one group, Jewish Israelis, and to systematically oppress Palestinians to varying degrees of intensity,” he said. “History will define this Knesset and every member of it first and foremost by what they did in the face of crimes against humanity.” 
Raz defended holding the convention despite the controversy.  
“This convention is in honor of the Jews who work to end the occupation, and we will have justice,” he said.  
Israeli human rights organizations also took the opportunity to denounce the government’s policies.  
“We have committed this apartheid and it must end,” Lior Amichai of Yesh Din said. “In the West Bank, there is a military force that acts in favor of Israelis and against Palestinians in non-humanitarian ways.” He also accused right-wing party leaders, including prime minister Naftali Bennett of wanting to keep Palestinians under permanent occupation.  
Some people were not allowed into the convention, however. One of them was an Israeli Arab journalist named Yoseph Haddad, CEO of Vouch for Each Other. The organization tries to integrate Arab Israelis into Israeli society by developing a connection between the country and young people.  
“I am an Israeli Arab with different opinions and they don’t want me inside,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “They are the ones who are really apartheid. If she says that Israel is apartheid, how is she allowed to [hold this meeting] in the walls of Israeli democracy?”  
Haddad acknowledged that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an important and present issue. However, he said that Touma-Suleiman spoke solely in the interests of Arabs in Gaza and the West bank while leaving out the Israeli Arabs who voted her into the Knesset.   
He was also upset that Jewish MKs and organizations are buying the argument that Israel is apartheid. He said that they have made this argument part of their ideology, and ending the apartheid would therefore end their “legitimacy” as MKs.  
Many MKs have spoken out about the convention, including allies of Raz.  
“To refer to Israel as an apartheid state is not correct, and it’s not intelligent,” Meretz MK Yair Golan said about his colleague. 
Before the meeting took place, members of Yesh Atid, New Hope, Yamina, Yisrael Beiteinu, and Blue and White signed a letter to Knesset Speaker Miki Levy asking him to “end Knesset involvement in events that act against the state of Israel, tarnish its good name, and work with antisemitic organizations like BDS.”  
Yamina MK Amichai Chikli denounced Meretz for involving itself in the convention and also called for it to not take place.
“The equation of Israel as an apartheid state such as South Africa is a sabotage operation that tries to undermine Israel’s existence,” he wrote in a statement. “The thought that the Knesset would host a convention like this where BDS operatives can present is nothing short of outrageous.” 
Ultimately, he attended the convention and denounced Touma-Suleiman and her agenda. “I let Chikli speak because until now, he was following the rules of the meeting,” she responded to the audience. “But now he’s lying.” 

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