Two Arab lawmakers were suspended from the Knesset on Wednesday for false claims about the Oct. 7 massacre and ensuing war against Hamas.
The Knesset Ethics Committee voted to sanction Ra’am Party MK Iman Khatib-Yasin and Hadash-Ta’al Party MK Aida Touma-Sliman for their conduct—barring them from parliamentary hearings and votes and withholding their salaries for specified periods.
• Khatib-Yasin received a one-month suspension from Knesset committee and plenum sessions and a two-week pay freeze for denying the Hamas atrocities that occurred on Oct. 7.
Thousands of Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 persons and wounding thousands more. At least 240 Israelis and foreign nationals were taken back to Gaza as hostages.
During an interview with the Knesset Channel earlier this month, Khatib-Yassin argued that Hamas “didn’t slaughter babies, at least from what we saw in the footage, and they didn’t rape women.”
She spoke days after members of Israel’s parliament were invited to view a compilation of video footage showing some of the atrocities that Hamas committed. The film, which was shown behind closed doors, included footage captured by body cameras worn by Hamas terrorists, security cameras, dashcams, smartphones and social media accounts.
Khatib-Yassin apologized for the remarks after being pressured from Ra’am Party leader Mansour Abbas to resign from the Knesset.
Ra’am is an Islamist party affiliated with the southern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel.
After Khatib-Yassin’s remarks, Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin vowed to criminalize the denial of Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities.
• Touma-Sliman was suspended for two months and received a two-week pay freeze for falsely accusing the IDF of attacking operating rooms at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City with white phosphorous bombs and of shooting civilians attempting to evacuate south along humanitarian corridors.
Her tweet from Nov. 11 is still posted to the X social media site.