Defense Minister blasts Arab MKs after MK Hanin Zoabi says Netanyahu should be tried for war crimes.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Monday blasted Arab MKs as "war criminals".

His comments came during a Knesset debate on a motion of no confidence in the government filed by the Joint List party.

Presenting the motion, MK Hanin Zoabi said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu "should be tried at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, because he is a war criminal."

"Occupation is always belligerent, violent, illegitimate and a basis for war crimes," she charged.

In response to the motion and Zoabi’s remarks, Liberman said, "All the Joint List are war criminals, every one of you.”

"You exploit the weaknesses and advantages of a democratic state to destroy us from within, we have no illusions," he told them.

"You are here by mistake and the time will come when you will not be here," added Liberman.

Despite being members of the Israeli parliament, Arab MKs have continuously acted against the interests of the state.

Last year, for example, three Joint List MKs visited with families of terrorists who murdered Israelis and later defended their actions.

Other examples have included Arab MKs openly defying an order from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to visit the Temple Mount, while also urging Arabs to prevent Jews from visiting the site.

One video clip sent to Arutz Sheva showed MK Ahmed Tibi actually striking an Israel Police officer on the Mount - a criminal offense - while another MK, Jamal Zahalka, "orders" police to leave the site.

Zoabi has in the past said she views sovereign Israeli territory as “occupied” Palestinian territory. Last year, during a discussion in the Knesset on the reconciliation agreement with Turkey, she openly called IDF soldiers “murderers”.

Liberman on Sunday blasted Israeli Arab rioters from Wadi Ara who demonstrated against U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The rioters threw rocks at cars and clashed with police while chanting "Palestine is ours".

The Defense Minister suggested that the rioters "move to the Palestinian Authority" and called for a boycott of the Arabs living in the Wadi Ara region.

"I call on all Israeli citizens not to enter their shops. Don't buy anything from them," declared Liberman. "We need to give them the feeling that they are not wanted."

Liberman has long promoted a plan that would switch Arab areas of Israel such as the Triangle and integrate them into a Palestinian state, in exchange for Jewish-populated areas of Judea and Samaria that would be annexed to Israel.