Joint Arab List MK Basel Ghattas says the terrorists are “martyrs” and they “did not attempt to kill out of a criminal motive, they did so in the context of the just struggle against the oppressive occupation.”
By Daniel Siryoti
Joint Arab List MK Basel Ghattas, one of three Israeli Arab Knesset members suspended this week after visiting terrorists’ families, said that he will not stop making such visits and referred to the deceased terrorists as “martyrs.”
Joint Arab List MK Basel Ghattas – Photo: AFP
Ghattas was suspended from the Knesset Monday alongside fellow Joint Arab List MKs Hanin Zombi and Jamal Zahalka (photo above) when their meeting with families of terrorists, which included a moment of silence in honor of the terrorists, was determined to have constituted conduct unbecoming.
Speaking to Israel’s Arabic-language television network Hala, Ghattas said of the terrorists: “They did not attempt to kill out of a criminal motive; they did so in the context of the just struggle against the oppressive occupation.”
He went on to say that “the day that Arab MKs avoid visiting the families of martyrs, who lost their sons in the struggle against the occupation, is the day we turn in our keys and go home.”
Ghattas said on Thursday that “our meetings [with terrorists’ families] served a humanitarian purpose, and our demand stands: Release the bodies for burial. I am not justifying murder on either side.”
View original Israel Hayom publication at:
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=31729
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