Civil servant calling for Palestinian right to return must be fired, says Israeli minister

Makbula Nassar was vocal in her solidarity of fellow Palestinians on social media, which had become a topic of controversy inside Israel

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

09 November, 2017

Nassar was criticised heavily for speaking against Israeli brutality against Palestinians [Getty]

An Israeli minister is calling for a Palestinian citizen of Israel to be fired from her job after she asserted the Palestinian right to return.

Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz called for Makbula Nassar, the architect of the Arabic awareness campaign by the National Road Safety Authority, to be fired from her job for standing up for Palestinian refugees, according to Israeli news outlet Haaretz.

“Someone active in anti-Zionist Palestinian organisations and blatantly acting against Israel’s existence isn’t worthy of an educational and informational role for Israel in such an important area as road safety,” Katz said.

Nassar was vocal in her solidarity of fellow Palestinians on social media, which had become a topic of controversy inside Israel.

During the Palestinian prisoner hunger strikes earlier this year, Nassar in a Facebook post allegedly expressed her support for the strikers and condemned the act of force-feeding, sparking controversy.

Palestinian prisoners began their 40-day Freedom and Dignity Hunger Strike on April 17, following Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi’s calls for prisoners to partake in a hunger strike until Israel agrees to give them their basic human rights.

During the hunger strikes, there were talks of force-feeding Palestinian prisoners by hiring mercenary doctors, an act akin to torture.