A controversial conference in the Knesset on Tuesday with the title "After 54 years: Between occupation and apartheid" has caused a firestorm.
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A heated exchange took place during the conference between MKs Aida Touma-Suleiman and Ofer Cassif from the Joint Arab List and Otzma Yehudit lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir. At one point, Cassif compared Ben Gvir, who is considered by many as one of the most right-wing MKs in the current Knesset, to animal feces and said he was a fascist. Ben-Gvir shot back, saying, "all of you are terrorists," referring to the Joint Arab List's anti-Zionist agenda.
The Joint Arab List is not formally part of the "change coalition" that unseated former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in early June, although it has provided it with de facto support.
Members of that coalition, which comprises left-wing parties and some on the Right who refuse to support Netanyahu, had asked Speaker Mickey Levy to prevent the conference from taking place, saying they were "horrified by the misuse of the parliament as a venue for an event that casts Israel as an apartheid state," adding that "while this house cherishes freedom of speech, we cannot remain silent when the Knesset is cynically exploited as a platform to undermine the very existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state through slander."
Despite Meretz being part of the coalition, an MK from the faction – Mossi Raz – was one of the organizers of the event.
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