Villian or Heroine? Israeli Arab lawmaker Haneen Zoabi is widely reviled among Jews for her support of the Gaza flotilla, among other things. To Arabs, she is a heroine. Image by getty images

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Arab-Israeli lawmaker Hanin Zoabi called on West Bank Palestinians to join the protests on the Gaza border.

Zoabi, a member of Knesset from the Joint Arab List party also called Israel a “fascist” country and called for an investigation into the deaths of Palestinian protesters during a news conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

“We need to go on popular marches to remind the world of the siege” of Gaza, Zoabi said. “We need millions of Palestinians to march on Jerusalem. That is the aspiration. But we can’t do it, because the Israelis would kill them.”

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Nine Gazan Palestinians, including a photojournalist, were killed during protests on the border on Friday. Double that number were killed by Israeli troops during protests a week earlier.

Zoabi called the protests “a march of peace,” and “peaceful act of popular struggle.” The Israel Defense Forces said on Friday that protesters attempted to damage and cross the border fence into Israel, burned thousands of tires, and threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops.

“Israel is only looking for an excuse to kill the Palestinians. Stop buying the Israeli propaganda,” Zoabi said, and declared herself a Palestinian.

“It’s shameful and disgraceful that while IDF soldiers are thwarting attacks on the border, and the Israeli delegation to the UN is working to thwart unilateral diplomatic moves, a member of Knesset chooses to exploit her status to spread lies from the UN stage and support a terror organization calling for the annihilation of the State of Israel and using children as human shields,” Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon responded.

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