76 chapter two 2007, during a visit abroad, Bishara resigned from the Knesset through the Israeli embassy in Cairo and announced his decision to remain abroad due to fears of a “long jail sentence and damage to his public image.”59 In February 2011, the Israeli Knesset made into law what has been dubbed the ‘Bishara bill’, enabling the parliament to revoke benefits to MKs who do not report to the Israeli police for questioning, a trial, or to serve a prison sentence.60 And in March of the same year, the Knesset plenum voted to formally revoke the parliamentary pension received by a former Knesset member. On June 7, 2010, almost a decade after the first initiatives by the Knesset to strip Arab MKs of their parliamentary immunity, the Knesset House Committee voted to strip the parliamentary privileges of MK Haneen Zoabi, also from the NDA-Balad party. On May 31, 2010, Zoabi participated in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla as passenger on the MV Mavi Marmara, the Turkish-flagged boat carrying humanitarian aid and other supplies to the besieged Gaza Strip. At 2:00 a.m. the ship was commandeered by Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in international waters, leaving nine activists dead, along with dozens of other activists and ten IDF soldiers injured. A report released by the United Nations Human Rights Council on September 23, 2010 on the incident confirmed that the Israeli military used “live ammunition, soft baton charges (beanbags) and plastic bullets,” and explained that the IDF opened fire with live ammunition “from the helicopter … prior to the descent of the soldiers.” The report concluded that “lethal force was employed by the Israeli soldiers in a widespread and arbitrary manner which caused an unnecessarily large number of persons to be killed or seriously injured.”61 While Zoabi’s parliamentary immunity prevented her Rights Council’: Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lebanon pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution S-2/1, (A/HRC/3/2), November 23, 2006, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/ bodies/hrcouncil/docs/specialsession/A.HRC.3.2.pdf; Jonathan Lis, Yoav Stern and Shahar Ilan, “Balad Chairman Bishara: I cannot receive a fair trial in Israel,” Haaretz, April 26, 2007, http://www.haaretz.com/news/balad-chairman-bishara-i-cannot-receive-a-fair-trial-in -israel-1.219014. 59 The Jerusalem Post, “Report: MK Bishara leaves Egypt,” April 22, 2007, http://fr.jpost .com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1176152849116&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull. 60 Rebecca Anna Stoil, “Knesset passes law revoking citizenship for treason,” The Jerusalem Post, March 28, 2011, http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article .aspx?id=214202. 61 United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Council, Fifteenth Session, Report of the international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance, (A/HRC/15/21), September 27, 2010, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/15session/A.HRC.15.21_en.pdf.