The chairman of the Knesset’s Interior Committee, Yoav Kisch of Likud, decided to cancel an emergency discussion by his committee on violence and organized crime in the Arab sector sponsored by Ayman Odeh, chairman of the predominantly Arab Joint List. According to Kisch, Odeh had participated in a conference he claimed was organized by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Israel considers a terrorist organization. “The committee that I chair will not cooperate with anyone who supports terrorism,” Kisch explained.
The conference, which took place in Jerusalem’s Ambassador Hotel, was supposed to discuss the status of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine. The Russia-Palestine Friendship Society organized it. Haider Aghanin, Russian ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, and Alexander Sorokin, director of the Russian Cultural Center in Bethlehem, were scheduled to participate, but then Yoram Halevy, Jerusalem district police commander, signed an order banning the conference, and the participants were forcibly dispersed. The Israel Police claimed that it had received information that the conference had been organized by groups considered to be terrorist organizations.