Joint List Head Warns Netanyahu's Incitement Could Spark Attacks on Arab Citizens
Translated & summarized from Arab48 by baba
Yousef Jabareen, head of the Joint List, warned in the Knesset that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's incitement could lead to serious attacks on Arab citizens, drawing parallels to the period before Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. Jabareen urged an end to the dangerous rhetoric, citing recent attacks on Arab students and unrest in Lod. Netanyahu, in turn, criticized the potential for a minority government supported by Arab parties, labeling them "supporters of terrorism" and accusing them of seeking to destroy the Jewish state.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Yousef Jabareen warned Netanyahu's incitement could lead to serious attacks on Arab citizens.
- Jabareen compared Netanyahu's rhetoric to the period preceding Yitzhak Rabin's assassination.
- Netanyahu criticized the possibility of a minority government relying on Arab parties, calling them "supporters of terrorism."
- Jabareen cited recent attacks on Arab students and unrest in Lod as consequences of incitement.
- Netanyahu claimed Arab parties seek to destroy Israel as a Jewish state.
Yousef Jabareen, head of the Joint List, warned in a Knesset speech on Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ongoing incitement against Arab citizens and their representatives could lead to serious attacks. Jabareen invoked the memory of the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, stating that Netanyahu remains "stuck on the balcony of incitement" since Rabin's murder. He called for a joint Arab-Jewish front to bring Netanyahu down from that "balcony," as was done in the 1990s.
Jabareen described Netanyahu's recent speech as the sound of a "wounded animal" spewing "venom and hatred" towards the Arab community and the Joint List. He highlighted recent incidents, including an attack on Arab students from Kfar Yasif and unrest involving Kahanists in Lod, as evidence of the dangerous real-world consequences of such rhetoric. Jabareen asserted that this incitement endangers the safety of Arab citizens and must be stopped.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, had urged Israeli parties to form a unity government and attacked the possibility of a minority government relying on the support of Arab parties, which he labeled "supporters of terrorism." He claimed that some in the Knesset seriously consider forming a government based on "supporters of terrorism and haters of Israel," clarifying he was not referring to all Arabs but to those with an ideology of "hating Israel and destroying the Jewish state." Netanyahu also stated he does not oppose improving the economic and social conditions of Arab citizens.
Netanyahu further alleged that the "moderate" United Torah Judaism party and the "extremist" Joint List differ only on the nature of the state that would arise on the ruins of the Jewish state, suggesting one would be an Islamic state like Hamas and the other a Palestinian national state like Fatah. He claimed both parties agree that "Israel, as a Jewish state, has no right to exist," aiming to delegitimize their participation in forming the next government.
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