Two Palestinian members of Knesset suspended over comments on war

Two Palestinian members of the Knesset have been suspended from party meetings, and have received a two-week suspension of their salary by Israel’s Knesset Ethics Committee on Wednesday, according to Haaretz.

Aida Touma-Sliman, from the Hadash-Ta'al party, and Iman Khatib-Yassin, from the United Arab List party, will be banned from party and committee meetings for a period of two months and one month, respectively.

The ban was imposed because of a post on X by Touma-Sliman which read: “And they still insist: The 'most moral army in the world' does not harm innocents and does not attack hospitals!" 

The comment was in response to reports and testimonies from Gaza that the Israeli army was attacking al-Shifa Hospital and using white phosphorus.

Touma-Sliman maintained that she made the comments under "the right of freedom of speech given to members of Knesset".

Khatib-Yassin was suspended for saying the footage from the 7 October Hamas attack showed "no babies were slaughtered, as per the film, and no women were raped”.

She apologised for her comments. However, the Ethics Committee said "it would not suffice to have the MKs simply retract their accusations or apologise for them".