Scandal-prone Likud MK Oren Hazan was suspended from the Knesset for six weeks, for insulting a Defense Ministry official.
During Hazan’s six-week suspension, announced by the Knesset Ethics Committee on Tuesday, he will be able to vote in the plenum, but cannot participate in any other activity in the legislature. He is a repeated offender, and has been suspended in the past.
In late October, when Defense Ministry Deputy Director-General Hezi Meshita – who is responsible for dealing with disabled veterans’ rehabilitation – spoke, Hazan said to him: “You think that because you’re a brigadier-general in reserves, you’re God. The sun doesn’t shine out of your behind. I wish that you’ll suffer like these people, and then you’ll feel something. You and your children!”
Kulanu MK Merav Ben-Ari, who presided over the meeting, said that Hazan behaves like that “every day, every week, and mainly to women, with misogynistic comments.”
Meshita said Hazan’s comments shame the Knesset.
After learning of his punishment, Hazan said that no one will silence him, and that he will continue to defend IDF soldiers and disabled veterans.
“They undergo double suffering and torture for years from the establishment and Defense Ministry, which failed at its job to take care of disabled and shell-shocked veterans,” he said.