Arab member of Knesset, Azmi Bishara, outraged the Knesset Tuesday by saying that some Israeli military soldiers are "sexual deviants who sublimate their violent sexual desires by shooting children," according to Haaretz newspaper.
The plenum was debating a bill that would bar convicted sex offenders from being employed in schools when Bishara suddenly brought up a television picture that showed a group of soldiers with "born to kill" written on their helmets, Haaretz said.
"Any soldier sporting such a slogan and guilty of shooting youthful demonstrators must be motivated by sexual deviancy,” Bishara said.
"I am prepared to guarantee that anyone who writes 'born to kill' on his helmet, has some kind of sexual violence that finds no legitimate outlet, so he expends it on small children by shooting them," Bishara added.
"He can't do it in a kindergarten, so he does it at a demonstration... We are talking about killing children, shooting them, and an entire country, with its enlightened media and all its pluralism, passes over it as if it were normal to kill children."
According to the paper, Bishara's statement stunned many members of the Knesset.
"He is standing here and vilifying, comparing IDF soldiers to sexual deviants, and there is no response!" cried MK Yisrael Katz, who immediately lodged a complaint with the Knesset's Ethics Committee, Haaretz said.
"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," responded Yuval Steinitz, the bill's sponsor.
"It really shocked me... MK Bishara has crossed all the lines. Even a democracy has the right to defend itself. It should not have to tolerate this kind of speech, Steinitz said - Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
