Israeli parliamentarian Aida Touma-Sliman from the Arab Joint List has been condemned for mourning the killing of six Palestinians by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday.
“Nablus bid farewell to our martyrs today,” Touma-Sliman wrote on Facebook. “The Palestinian people bid farewell to their martyrs… The more the occupation increases its crimes, the resistance escalates.”
Likud MK Nir Barkat said that Touma-Sliman and others like her should not have a place in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. “There is no room for terror supporters in the Israeli Knesset,” he wrote. “It is impossible to believe that there are those who are willing to sit together in a coalition with terrorist backers.”
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said he was “ashamed of public representatives who support terrorists and are prepared to let them continue to spill the blood of Israeli citizens.” Gantz added that, “MK Aida Touma-Sliman proves again that [Hadash-Ta’al, her party] can’t be included in a government or relied on to form one. Israel’s security comes before coalition-building.”
Other critics included Bezalel Smotrich, who said that Israel “cannot fight terror if you establish a government with terror supporters.” Shas leader Arye Deri added that Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid wants to rely on the political support “of these terror supporters who praise ‘martyrs’.”
Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is considered by the Israeli government and officials to be “terrorism” and resistance fighters are viewed as “terrorists”. However, resistance by any means against a military occupation is entirely legitimate under international law.
This fact was reflected by Touma-Sliman’s fellow Joint List MK Ofer Cassif, who tweeted his “full support” for her. “The simple truth,” he said, “is that where there is suppression, where there is occupation, there will be resistance. The occupation is terror, and those who support the occupation… should be judged in Israel, in Palestine, at The Hague and by the annals of history.”
Montather Rassoul