Knesset Coalition Chairman MK (Likud) David Amsellem has put forward a bill to block the appointment of Deputy Mayor (Hadash) Raja Za’atara, who has spoken out in the past supporting both Hamas and Hezbollah. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called on newly-elected Haifa Mayor Einat Kalish-Rotem to cancel the appointment.

Amsellem explains, “Za’atara’s place is in prison, and certainly, not serving as a deputy mayor. I sponsored a bill to grant the Minister of the Interior the authority to cancel the appointment of a deputy mayor who expresses public solidarity and/or support with terrorist organizations that call for the destruction of the State of Israel. The bill states that the Interior Minister would first have to grant the deputy mayor a hearing to permit him to defend his position prior to ruling to cancel the appointment.

“I will bring the bill to Knesset as expeditiously as possible, to remove this disgrace form the Jewish People, as this is truly a shame. I can’t believe this can occur in any country in the world,” added Amsellem.

Officials in Amsellem’s bureau noted that “the Local Authorities Law states that every deputy head of an authority will be chosen from amongst the members of the council, on the basis of a proposal by the head of the authority, which was approved by the council, by a majority of its members. The current situation allows the head of the authority to propose his deputies to the council, even if he is a person who expressed solidarity and public support for terrorist organizations calling for the destruction of the State of Israel”.

“Paradoxically,” they explain, “the law allows the appointment of a deputy head of an authority in the State of Israel to openly support the worst haters of Israel, who undermine the right of the State of Israel to exist as the state of the Jews. The amendment was intended to nullify the authority of the local authority council, to approve the proposal and the head of the authority to appoint a council member to the position of deputy head who, even before he was appointed as a council member, expressed solidarity and public support for terrorist organizations”.

Amsellem’s bill would place the authority in the Interior Minister’s hand to override a decision of the local authority and head of that authority, in this case, the Mayor of Haifa and her city council.

“The State of Israel has the right, and the duty, not to allow a citizen who supports a terrorist organization that calls for the murder of its citizens and the denial of Israel’s right to exist as the Jewish nation-state to be appointed deputy head of the authority while exploiting the state’s resources and the manpower available to him” Amsellem concluded.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)