Arab Fifth Column Watch - Labor MK Refuses Pledge of Allegiance
Hypocrisy is generally considered poor form, and so when someone is accused of being unpatriotic they usually respond with some convoluted answer about "being loyal to the higher principles" of a particular nation of ideology. Salah Tarif, an elected member of Israel's Knesset, prefers to just be openly disloyal:
Salah Tarif has served for about two weeks as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party, even though he refuses to participate in any Knesset debates or to say the pledge of allegiance that all MKs are obliged to say, which includes a pledge "to maintain loyalty to the State of Israel and to faithfully discharge my mission in the Knesset."... The case of Tarif is unprecedented. Never before has an MK refused to pronounce the pledge of allegiance. Former MK Meir Kahane tried to add to the pledge the words "and I will always observe your Torah, forever and ever." The response of the speaker of the Knesset was to have Kahane repeat the pledge without any additions.
A member of Israel's government is refusing to even pretend to be loyal to the country, and is being allowed to vote on the laws which will govern the state. Imagine if any Jewish citizen of Iran (one of the very few that weren't expelled) even hinted at being disloyal to the Islamic Republic. And yet consistently, Israel is singled out for mistreatment of its Arab citizens - who not only have the ability to vote and full economic and political rights, but can now apparently exercise them even while being openly disloyal to the country that provides it to them.
[Cross-posted at IsraPundit]
Salah Tarif has served for about two weeks as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party, even though he refuses to participate in any Knesset debates or to say the pledge of allegiance that all MKs are obliged to say, which includes a pledge "to maintain loyalty to the State of Israel and to faithfully discharge my mission in the Knesset."... The case of Tarif is unprecedented. Never before has an MK refused to pronounce the pledge of allegiance. Former MK Meir Kahane tried to add to the pledge the words "and I will always observe your Torah, forever and ever." The response of the speaker of the Knesset was to have Kahane repeat the pledge without any additions.
A member of Israel's government is refusing to even pretend to be loyal to the country, and is being allowed to vote on the laws which will govern the state. Imagine if any Jewish citizen of Iran (one of the very few that weren't expelled) even hinted at being disloyal to the Islamic Republic. And yet consistently, Israel is singled out for mistreatment of its Arab citizens - who not only have the ability to vote and full economic and political rights, but can now apparently exercise them even while being openly disloyal to the country that provides it to them.
[Cross-posted at IsraPundit]
