Furor Marks Start of Israel Parliament : 15 Leftists Refuse to Take Oath Over Issue of Arab Expulsions

Israel’s 12th Parliament today opened on a fractious note as 15 leftist legislators refused to be sworn in by a lawmaker whose party calls for expelling Arabs from Israel.

Yair Sprintzak, 77, of the right-wing Moledet (Homeland) Party, administered the oaths under a law that makes the oldest member of the Knesset, or Parliament, its acting Speaker until a permanent Speaker is chosen.

A new Speaker was chosen after the swearing-in ceremony. He is Dov Shilansky of the rightist Likud Party.

Moledet, which won two seats in the Nov. 1 elections, calls for the “voluntary transfer” of Palestinians from Israel’s occupied territories.

Before swearing in the new legislators, Sprintzak delivered a highly political speech in which he called for a Greater Israel, a concept under which the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip would become part of Israel.

More than a dozen left-wing legislators, shouting words of protest, got up from their seats and walked to the back of the hall. They returned when Sprintzak called the names of each Knesset member, but then 15 members refused to take the required oath.

‘Will Not Be Sworn’

“We will not be sworn in by a transferist who represents for us the complete opposite of law, morality and justice, Jewish and human, for which we were elected,” said Ran Cohen of the leftist Citizens Rights Movement.

Five members of his faction were among those refusing to be sworn in by Sprintzak. Others included Avraham Burg of the left-leaning Labor Party.

New Parliament members cannot participate in proceedings until they take the oath, said Parliament spokeswoman Sarah Yitzhaki.

Moledet’s platform calls for bringing about the “voluntary transfer” of 1.5 million Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip through government policies that would deny Arabs employment and other services.

Sprintzak has been quoted as saying he is not a racist and advocates the transfer as the most humane solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The election of Shilansky as new Parliament Speaker was also controversial. Shilansky has said he will refuse to meet with a German delegation if elected.

“I, Dov Shilansky, am a Holocaust survivor and I have to be loyal to my brothers . . . I will not shake a German’s hand. Even if I wanted to I could not do it,” he said.

The 64-year-old Lithuanian-born Shilansky was sentenced to 21 months in jail in 1952 for carrying explosives during a demonstration against Israel’s reparation talks with West Germany. He was released after 16 months in jail.