Netanyahu’s bill to suspend lawmakers absurd: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Ralph Schoenman, author of 'Hidden History of Zionism' in Berkeley, about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to push ahead with a bill which would suspend lawmakers from the parliament (Knesset) for what is described as “unseemly behavior.”

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: How do you feel about what this means about Israel which calls itself “the only democracy in the Middle East”?  

Schoenman: It is absurd. After all the Palestinian people are totally without any rights within the country. The formal presence of members of the Knesset does not grant them the ability to defend their people or to provide them with access to their land, to their basic humanity, but Netanyahu has put forward a bill that would suspend even the Palestinian lawmakers if they visit relatives of the Palestinian people, who are being seized by the Israeli soldiers.

These are people whose homes are being burnt down, their children are being burnt alive and when the people protest these barbarities on part of the Zionist forces, the Israelis then penalize anyone who attempts to come to their defense. This is basically what you have here.  

In the case of Hana Zawawi who is a senior member of the Balad faction, a popular electoral coalition that represents 1.7 Palestinians, she is sentenced for protesting police mistreatment of young people, against their torture under arrest. Jamal Zahalka, a legislator told Al Jazeera that anybody who comes to the defense of the Palestinian people is in turn subject to these penalties on the part of the regime, so, so much for the pretense of democracy. There is no form of democracy of any meaning within Israel today. The Palestinian people are under permanent siege, their land taken from them, under attack by settlers and the Israeli army as a force of subjugation permanently. That is the ongoing reality. Only resistance can alter this dynamic.  

Press TV: So it would be fair to say that Israel is becoming even more extremist in its nature, it was always extremist obviously but is it becoming a lot more extreme as the days go by?

Schoenman: What is happening as the days go by is that the facade is being set aside. They do not even make the pretense. In reality, the Palestinian people have always been deprived of their elementary rights, they are regarded as a people too many, their land is denied to them, any self-determination is prevented and the formal presence of Palestinian members of the Knesset does not allow them in any way to represent the needs of their population.

Permanent attack, permanent torment, permanent burning of people alive met by resistance on the part of the Zionist state to any efforts to put before the people of the world the magnitude of subjugation of the people of Palestine. This is a movement that cries out for national liberation and nothing short of that will alter this dynamic.   

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