Yehiel Hazan

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Yehiel Hazan

Date of birth	1 March 1958
Knesset(s)	16th
Party	Likud

Yehiel Hazan (Hebrew: יחיאל חזן‎, born 1 March 1958) is an Israeli politician.

[edit] Political career

Hazan was elected to the Knesset in the 2003 elections as a member of Likud. He chaired the committee on drug abuse, and was a member of several other committees.

During the Knesset term it emerged that he had voted twice during the second and third readings of a bill on the emergency economic plan in May 2003. After voting on his own panel, he also voted using the panel of absent Likud MK Inbal Gavrieli; both votes were cast against the bill. After being accused, Hazan then attempted to tamper with the evidence by removing the machines in question from the storeroom in which they were kept. However, he was caught in the act by the Knesset's CCTV. Nevertheless, despite the clear evidence, on 22 December, 2003 the Knesset narrowly voted (by a majority of one) not to lift his parliamentary immunity.^[1]

Eventually convicted of the offence, Hazan was sentenced to four months of community service and a six-month suspended prison term. He then appealed against the sentence, but the appeal was rejected by the Jerusalem District Court on January 17, 2007.^[2] He was not re-elected to the Knesset in the 2006 elections.

Hazan also courted controversy for his comments about Arabs, stating "The Arabs are worms. You find them everywhere like worms, underground as well as above."^[3] Despite being asked by the Knesset speaker, he refused to retract his comments.