MK Anastasia Michaeli (Israel Beiteinu) is facing an ethics complaint after
pouring a cup of water on MK Ghaleb Majadle (Labor) in a Knesset Education
Committee meeting on Monday.
Michaeli interrupted Majadle while he was
speaking – not an unusual occurrence in the Knesset – and the Labor MK told her
to “shut up.”
Michaeli responded that she was surprised by his
disrespectful way of speaking, and he repeated that she should shut
up.
Majadle then requested from committee chairman Alex Miller (Israel
Beiteinu) to either eject or silence Michaeli for being “rude and disorderly,”
which Miller would not do.
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“She, and no one else, will silence me – I was
elected to represent the public!” Majadle exclaimed. “No one will take away my
independence.
Military rule [over Israeli- Arabs] ended in
1966.”
At that point, Michaeli picked up a cup of water from the
committee’s table, poured it on Majadle’s head, and walked out of the
room.
“She’s crazy. Too bad she’s in your faction; I’m sure you wouldn’t
agree to such wild, rude, fascist behavior,” Majadle said, turning to
Miller.
Later Monday, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin announced in a
meeting with his deputies – except for Majadle and Ethics Committee chairman
Yitzhak Vaknin (Shas) – that he would submit an ethics complaint about
Michaeli’s behavior, which he said did not only hurt one MK, but the entire
Knesset.
“The elections seem to be getting closer, and I imagine there
will be MKs that want to make themselves stand out through tricks and gimmicks,”
Rivlin said. “The Knesset and Israeli democracy will pay the
price.”
Michaeli told reporters she could not believe not only that a man
would insult a lady in the Knesset, but that no male MKs know how to defend a
woman.
“If no one comes to my defense, I’ll do it myself,” she said, and
stomped away from the group of writers and photographers that gathered around
her, visibly upset.
Soon after, Majadle said that the incident was in no
way his fault, because Michaeli disturbed him while he had the right to speak to
the committee.
“I did not use any derogatory terms against her that would
insult her or reduce her status,” he stated. “All I said was ‘please shut up.’”
The Labor MK ignored questions about his calling Michaeli crazy and a
fascist.
Labor leader Shelly Yacimovich defended Majadle, slamming
Michaeli’s “wild and violent” behavior towards a “solid and serious
MK.”
Yacimovich added that Michaeli’s actions must have racist motives
behind them.
Israel Beiteinu sent a statement following its faction
meeting Monday afternoon that no circumstances could justify Michaeli’s
behavior, and that the party demands that all of its MKs respect the
Knesset.
In addition, the faction condemns “Majadle’s statements, which
led to Michaeli’s outburst.”
Speaking at an Independence faction meeting,
Defense Minister Ehud Barak joked: “We have decided not to adopt the water
distribution methods we saw in the committee today.”