Politician hurls abuse at Palestinian families on their way to visit relatives in Israeli prison

Controversial Knesset member Oren Hazan told one woman her son was a 'dog' and an 'insect' during bus confrontation

An Israeli MP hurled abuse at Palestinian families as they rode a bus to visit their imprisoned relatives.

Oren Hazan shared footage of the confrontation online on Monday, in which he branded one woman’s son a “dog” and an “insect”.

Mr Hazan, a controversial, right-wing Knesset member for Israel’s ruling Likud party, said on Twitter the prisoners were “terrorists who belong in the ground”.

The clip shows several heated exchanges with bus passengers, one in which Mr Hazan tells a mother her son is a “dog” and an “insect”.

The woman responds: “My son is the best of men. A dog is whoever calls him a dog.”

Mr Hazan replied: “I’ll make sure you cannot visit here anymore and we’ll do everything so you will not get in.

“You are not welcome here, you have to understand well, you raised your son to murder.”

Families on the bus were travelling from the Gaza Strip to see relatives at Nafha prison in southern Israel as part of an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) convoy.

Suhair Zakkout, Gaza spokeswoman for the ICRC, condemned the incident.

In a statement, she said: “Families have the right to visit their loved ones in a dignified manner.

“It is the responsibility of the competent authorities to ensure that the visits take place safely and without interference.”

Mr Hazan, who said he boarded the bus to campaign for the cancellation of family visits for those imprisoned for terror offences, is known for staging publicity stunts.

In 2017, he sneaked into a reception for Donald Trump during his visit to Israel, posing for a photograph with the US President.

In August, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly stepped in to stop Mr Hazan travelling to fight a Jordanian MP at the West Bank border.

Additional reporting by Reuters