MK Zahava Gal-On of the left-wing Meretz Party caused a stir in Knesset on Tuesday in her plenum address expressing her adamant opposition to a bill intending to grant amnesty to many of the people arrested and facing criminal charges for their opposition to the 2005 expulsion of Jews from Gaza.

In her remarks, she compared pre-WWII Germany “turning a blind eye on the right-wing radicals,” and permitting them to use democracy to their advantage, leading to the rise of Hitler. “We must learn a lesson from the collapse of the Weimar Republic,” she added.

Gal-On feels that in Israel today, the “criminals of Oslo and the right-wing extremists” must be brought to justice and be held accountable for their crimes.

Explaining her remarks to Israel Radio on Wednesday morning, she stated “I never used the word Nazi and I was speaking on behalf of Israeli democracy.”

She adds that the MKs supporting the bill today are trying to replace the law-enforcement agencies, seeking to pardon those who struck soldiers and police. Gal-on to date has not expressed any objections to the recent cabinet decision to pardon dozens of Fatah al-Aqsa Brigade terrorists.

Some of the responses in Knesset during Tuesday’s session:

Prof. Aryeh Eldad (National Union): “She suffers from sever mental disturbances”. He added that as a plastic surgeon he knows that he cannot cure her and her illness requires a different treatment.

Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party: In a rare move, he got up and began shouting at Gal-On, rejecting her comparison to Germany and the rise of the Nazis. “You crossed every red line. It is unacceptable for an Israeli MK to state that the Israeli right-wing acts like the Weimar Republic which permitted Hitler to rise to power.”

In response Gal-On stated, “My parents are survivors. You do not have a monopoly on the Holocaust.”

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)