MK Tibi posts photos with PA following ethics comment

Ofir Akunis (Likud) accuses Tibi of supporting the Palestinian statehood bid, calls for action against him.

By LAHAV HARKOV
MK Ahmed Tibi and PA President Abbas 311 (photo credit: Courtesy: Tibi's Facebook page)
MK Ahmed Tibi and PA President Abbas 311
(photo credit: Courtesy: Tibi's Facebook page)
MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al), undeterred by Likud MK Ofir Akunis’s complaint to the Knesset Ethics Committee about his travels to New York in support of the Palestinian statehood bid, posted pictures on Facebook on Tuesday morning showing himself with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the Palestinian delegation’s plane.
On Monday, Akunis filed a complaint against Tibi to Knesset Ethics Committee chairman Yitzhak Vaknin (Shas) saying that “Tibi has acted for many years against the interests of the State of Israel and the Israeli Knesset.”
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“I request from the Ethics Committee to call an urgent meeting and discuss MK Tibi’s joining the Palestinian delegation and use any options available [against him],” Akunis wrote.
The Likud MK also quoted Tibi as saying: “I have stood in support of the Palestinian side in the clearest way possible... the Knesset speaker’s policies are harmful to Israel.”
Vaknin agreed to discuss the complaint, and is considering calling a meeting to discuss Tibi’s actions next week.
On Sunday, Tibi’s spokesman said that the UAL-Ta’al MK “is not a member of the Palestinian delegation, but he is an active supporter of the statehood bid, and will express this at every possible opportunity in New York,” including scheduled lectures at a Palestinian- American Congress event at Columbia University.
The spokesman was unable to confirm what Tuesday’s Facebook photos revealed – that Tibi flew to New York with Abbas, advisers Nabil Abu Rudaineh and Majdi al-Khaldi, PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo and PLO official Saeb Erekat.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin slammed Tibi at a Likud event on Sunday evening.
“In the Knesset, anyone can say their opinion, even if we don’t like it,” Rivlin explained, “but it cannot be that a Knesset member can join a delegation that seeks to harm Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”
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