Knesset Member Ayman Odeh, leader of the Arab Joint List, participated Monday in an east Jerusalem conference on behalf of two Palestinian organizations which have been defined by Israel as terror groups, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).

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Several hours earlier, Jerusalem District Police Commander Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevy signed a prohibition order against the conference.

Police officers arrived at the Ambassador Hotel in east Jerusalem to stop the event from going ahead. Six people were detained for questioning and one woman was arrested. The conference was supposed to focus on the issue of Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Palestine.

MK Odeh's declaration as police arrive to stop east Jerusalem conference

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Upon the police’s arrival, Odeh said that “they will be defeated, and Jerusalem will remain for its people, standing strong, winning and the capital of Palestine.”

Russia says conference wasn’t initiated by terror groups

The Russian Embassy in Israel, however, denied that the conference marking Russia Day was initiated by the two Palestinian terror organizations.

The embassy said in a statement that the event was held by the Society of Palestinian-Russian Friendship.

The event was attended by the Russian representative in the Palestinian Authority, Haider Aghanin, who id defined in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as “the Russian ambassador to Palestine.” Another participant was Alexander Sorokin, director of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Bethlehem.

MK Odeh confronts police at the event, Monday evening

The invitation to the conference stated: “The Russian Embassy and the Society of Palestinian-Russian Friendship invite you to take part in an event marking Russia Day, on Monday, June 18, 2018, at 7 pm at the Ambassador Hotel in Jerusalem. Long live the Palestinian-Russian Friendship.”

Nevertheless, the Russian Embassy denied that it co-organized the event.

Dr. Khatib Samir, head of the Israeli association of Russian university graduates, said in response: “This isn’t a terror-related event. It’s a completely legitimate event held together with the Russian Embassy, which the police decided to shut down for political reasons only, without knowing what it was about. There is no connection to the organizations mentioned in the prohibition order. Did the Russian representatives also attend a terrorist event?”

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, however, threatened to file a complaint with the Knesset’s Ethics Committee against MK Odeh.

“I watched the video showing MK Odeh participate in an event inciting terror this morning, and I felt ashamed as the Knesset speaker and as a citizen in the State of Israel,” Edelstein said. “It’s unthinkable that a public representative, who was elected to represent the Israeli Arab public, is actually representing terror organization and inciting to violence. There is no room for inciters in the Israeli Knesset.”

MK Ayman Odeh (L) and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg, Motti Kimchi)

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan slammed Odeh for participating in the event, saying that the lawmaker “provided another example of his behavior as an enemy of the state and as a supporter and accomplice in the activity of terror organizations.

“I plan to turn to the attorney general immediately and demand a criminal investigation against him for aiding a declared terror organization,” Erdan added. “MK Odeh, you place isn’t in the Knesset, it’s in prison.”

The district police commander decided to issue a prohibition order against the conference following intelligence information on a plan to hold an event on behalf of the terror organizations.

“We won’t allow an event characterized and organized by groups identified as a terror organization, and we will work undauntedly to prevent and thwart events anytime and anywhere,” the police said in a statement.

MK Odeh’s office declined comment.