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Former Balad MK calls for ‘revolt against Israeli occupation’

“100,000 Palestinians can surround and cut off” a settlement, says former lawmaker Jamal Zahalka • Yamina MK Bezalel Smotrich calls for a criminal investigation.

Joint Party Knesset members Jamal Zahalka (center) and Ahmad Tibi (right) attend a plenum session in the assembly hall of the Israeli parliament on Dec. 5, 2016. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.
Joint Party Knesset members Jamal Zahalka (center) and Ahmad Tibi (right) attend a plenum session in the assembly hall of the Israeli parliament on Dec. 5, 2016. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

Yamina Knesset member Bezalel Smotrich called on Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit on Wednesday to investigate a former Balad Party lawmaker for incitement over remarks calling on Arab Israelis to “revolt.”

Former Balad Knesset member Jamal Zahalka said on Tuesday that Arab Israelis “should take actions to end the Israeli occupation, like a revolt in the West Bank.”

Zahalka further noted that “100,000 Palestinians can surround a settlement and cut it off from the rest of the world.”

In his appeal, Smotrich said that Zahalka’s remarks constitute “very clear incitement to violence. If 100,000 Palestinian ever surround a settlement, they will not be chanting slogans calling for peace and harmony. This calls for a criminal investigation.”

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

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