Government of Chelm

A row has broken out in Israel over a solidarity visit paid by three Arabs recently elected to the 17th Israeli Knesset to Hamas officials recently stripped of their residency rights in Jerusalem. In the furor over this treachery, right wingers have described Arab MK’s as a Trojan horse within the Knesset and even Kadima’s members have asked the Attorney General to launch an investigation.

Some joke. This is the same Attorney General who, in February, opposed the disqualification of these guys from the election after they declared their stated intention to negotiate with Hamas.

In truth, the Arab MKs’ activities and loyalties are hardly surprising. It is not they who need investigating - but Israel. How on earth can a country at war afford to allow the enemy into its own legislature? In the Second World War, all you had to do was speak German and you were shipped out to Australia or some other secure location until the war’s end. But in Israel, Arabs are invited into the Knesset even if they are into sedition.

And if that fails to nauseate you, why not ask what these Arabs do as paid members of Israel’s parliament when they are not paying solidarity visits to Hamas?

Well, I can tell you about this one. He is Taleb a-Sanna. And on Monday he became the first Arab MK ever to be appointed to the Knesset's Committee for Foreign Affairs and Defense. Yes, defense!

This might explain the government’s delay in retaliating for Monday’s bombing in Tel Aviv. The defense committee can’t give its advice till Mr. a-Sanna gets back from Ramallah.