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Knesset may strip immunity from MKs who met Gadhafi in Libya

29 April 2010 01:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The Knesset may withdraw parliamentary immunity from six lawmakers who traveled to Libya to meet the country’s leader Moammar Gadhafi, the chairman of the chamber’s House Committee Yariv Levin said on Wednesday, APA reports quoting â€œHaaretzâ€.

"Knesset immunity is not a license to inflict continual damage on the state and make a mockery of parliament and the public," Levin said.

Levin said the Knesset’s House Committee would debate at the earliest opportunity a measure to strip the members of their immunity, proposed by Michael Ben-Ari, an member for the rightist National Union party.
Gadhafi on Friday received an Arab-Israeli delegation including MKs Mohammed Barakeh, Ahmed Tibi, Talab al-Sana and Afu Aghbaria in his tent near the town of Serit, where he hosted the recent Arab League summit.

"What we have here is an historic opportunity to abolish once and for all the immunity and rights of Knesset members who hate Israel and denigrate the state," Ben-Ari said.

Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin criticized the motion, which described the MKs who visited Libya as traitors.

But the speaker confirmed on Wednesday that he would forward Ban-Ari’s request to the House Committee and authorize a debate on the issue after it emerged that parliamentary regulations left him powerless to oppose the measure.

All six members who traveled to Libya said they would boycott the discussion.

In response to Ben-Ari’s motion, Tibi said: "This is a bizarre and crazy debate in keeping with the atmosphere of persecution that emerges here time and again."

He added: "We will continue to preserve cultural and national ties with the Arab world, which is our natural constituency in our struggle for equality."

Tibi was forcibly removed from the Knesset speaker’s podium by ushers on Wednesday as he was giving a speech about the Libya trip.

Tibi was removed when he failed to leave the podium after session chair Carmel Shama informed him that his allotted speaking time was over.

Tibi refused to step down and argued the point with Shama before declaring, "You want to remove me by force? Go ahead. You’re imposing terror on me."

"Terror generally doesn’t come from our side," Shama countered.

"That’s so low," Tibi shot back dismissively, and when Shama continued to demand he resume his seat in the half-empty chamber, insisted that "I stand by my right to complete my last sentence."

Even when ushers stepped up, at Shama’s command, to remove Tibi, the legislator gripped the wooden podium with both hands, insisting "I want to say my sentence," before allowing himself to be led away.