The Knesset Ethics Committee has for the first time barred Knesset members from accepting money from groups affiliated with the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, implementing new regulations handed down by the Strategic Affairs Ministry in January.
According to a Wednesday report by Walla news, Joint Arab List MKs Yousef Jabareen and Hanin Zoabi were scheduled to fly abroad to address anti-Israel groups in the United States and Ireland.
Lawmakers are required to receive the Ethics Committee’s approval for trips that are not funded by parliament to ensure there is no conflict of interest.
The Strategic Affairs Ministry has compiled a list of 20 organizations that will not be able to fund Knesset members’ flights over their call to boycott the Jewish state.
This is the first instance in which the Ethics Committee has implemented regulations that obligate it to “consider prohibiting trips [by MKs] abroad that are funded by organizations or bodies that have knowingly published public calls to boycott Israel or have committed to participating in a boycott of Israel.”
These regulations were put in place after the Knesset House Committee voted in January to bar legislators from flying abroad on BDS groups’ dime.
