Israel's parliament, the Knesset, has approved a new law that is intended to prevent any Israeli lawmaker from honoring or glorifying terrorists, by setting up the procedures for the expulsion of such members.
The action follows the exposure by officials with Palestinian Media Watch last winter of three members who did exactly that.
The organization said the new law allows, by a vote of 90 of the 120 members, a lawmaker can be expelled for, "Incitement to violence or racism, support for armed conflict against Israel, or rejecting Israel as a Jewish and democratic state."
WND reported at the time how the situation developed.
PMW had reported three Arab members of Israel's legislature, the Knesset, visited the families of 10 terrorists who were killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis, including one who murdered three people.
Palestinian Media Watch released the information to government officials, sparking an invitation for the group to present the findings to lawmakers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the three lawmakers involved – Jamal Zahalka, Haneen Zoabi and Basel Ghattas, all of the Balad party – "do not deserve to be in the Knesset."
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported the Knesset Ethics Committee promptly suspended the three lawmakers.
Zoabi and Ghattas were suspended for four months, and Zahalka was suspended for two months.
The speaker of the Knesset, Yuli-Yoeli Edelstein, at the time told the Jerusalem Post: "It cannot be that when innocent civilians are being slaughtered on the streets of Israel, MKs go to comfort (the terrorists' families) and with comparable audacity, even bring their requests to the government.
"I see this as seriously harming the Knesset and the state of Israel and hope that this will enter the hearts and minds of Supreme Court judges next time they rule on an appeal of the disqualification of unworthy candidates for the Knesset."
The nation's Supreme Court previously reversed other decisions to ban members of the Balad party from the Knesset.
Palestinian Media Watch said lawmakers invited PMW President Itamar Marcus to brief them on the issue.
Marcus disclosed the original documentation about the meeting and well as additional evidence of Arab Knesset members defending the visits, PMW said.
PMW found that the lawmakers met with members of the families of 10 terrorists, including the father of Baha Alian. He was accused, along with an accomplice, of killing three people on a bus last October.
A Facebook post was found, the Post said, featuring Alian's father, Muhammad, discussing the visit by lawmakers.
In the social media post, the attacker was called a "martyr" in Arabic.
The Post cited a Palestinian news agency reporting the meeting was in east Jerusalem. It opened with a moment of silence and a reading from the Quran, after which Muahmmad Alian welcomed the lawmakers.
The lawmakers, Marcus noted at the time, "are sending a message to Israeli citizens that they identify with murderers of Israelis."
"This is a serious thing that happened, that they actually publicized it, as I said, on their Facebook page."
He said the meeting was "so close to the murder, the blood still [is] damp."