An indictment was brought against Hanin Zoabi on Monday after the firebrand MK of the Arab Joint List pleaded guilty to insulting a public official. 

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein sent a letter to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein informing him of the indictment, following Zoabi’s agreement to renounce her parliamentary immunity. 

As part of the plea bargain with the State Attorney’s Office, the Joint List MK also agreed to pay a 3,000 shekel fine and issue a public apology.

“My remarks came against a backdrop of harsh arrests,” she said in a statement, noting she was “upset” at the time of the remarks and that they “are not representative of my style or my way.” 

“I had no intention of insulting anyone. I’m sorry I said those things and apologize to anyone who was hurt by them.”

The plea bargain enabled Zoabi to avoid the more serious charge of incitement over the July 2014 incident which occurred outside the Nazareth Magistrates Court. 

At a demonstration there, she accused two Arab policemen of treason against their people, which law enforcement officials interpreted as a call for violence against Arab-Israeli police officers.

She also called on the Arab public to spit on them and told them to fear the Arab youths.