Smotrich Escalates Rhetoric Against Arab Community After Settlement Evacuation

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has escalated his rhetoric against the Arab community in Israel, linking alleged threats of violence by Arab citizens against Jewish farmers in the Galilee to a broader national security concern. In a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, Smotrich claimed that Israel "ignores the development of violent and dangerous threats," citing the October 7th Hamas attack as a consequence of past policies towards Hamas and Hezbollah. He asserted that a similar situation is "now happening in the Galilee," where he alleged Jewish farmers are being threatened by Arab citizens, forcing them to abandon lands belonging to the Jewish National Fund (KKL). Smotrich further claimed that the Arab community within Israel possesses "over a million illegal weapons," warning that attempts to "artificially buy calm in the present" could lead to a future "explosion." He vowed to "put an end to this" and declared that the government would stop the "chaos," describing the situation in the Galilee as "decades of neglect and Arab occupation of the Galilee." These statements align with Smotrich's consistent positions on dealing with the Arab community, connecting crime and weapon issues to what he perceives as national threats. The remarks follow the evacuation of a settlement outpost in Majd al-Krum.