Knesset Member Tibi Reveals WhatsApp Exchange with Netanyahu's Advisor

Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi revealed on Friday during an appearance on Channel 12's "Ofira Ohana Seri" program that he had received WhatsApp messages from Natan Eshel, a close advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Tibi, who was a guest on the show, attacked Netanyahu over a recent Knesset speech. He directly addressed Netanyahu on air, stating, "Netanyahu, listen, I don't usually reveal conversations, you hypocrite. Your personal advisor sent me messages a week before the elections, the day after, and after the results were announced. He, like you, feared the indictment law. You wanted to convince us not to support the law. On election day, you wanted to dissuade us from joining Eisenkot. Two days ago, one of your ministers approached me behind the plenum hall and told me, 'Don't believe them, they won't take you with them. It's better for us to go to elections.' I replied to the minister, 'We don't want elections, we want to bring down Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir.' We will bring you down, you inciter, you spread hatred."

Tibi also addressed Netanyahu's accusation that Arab parties had stolen the election. "Only a thief can call others thieves," Tibi stated. "The Prime Minister is supposed to act with the responsibility befitting his position. This is an attempt to delegitimize the leadership of the Arab community and two million Arab citizens."

Netanyahu had previously drawn criticism for a speech delivered after the swearing-in of 26 new Knesset members. In his address, he attacked Arab Knesset members, stating, "Here in the Knesset, they seriously talk about forming a narrow government that includes supporters of terrorism and haters of terrorism, or is dependent on them. I'm not talking about Arabs." He further elaborated, "I'm talking about people whose ideology is based on hating Israel and liquidating the Jewish state. People who say Hamas is not a terrorist organization at all, but a charitable organization... These are things said by Knesset members who are supposed to be part of a narrow government." Netanyahu questioned the true motives of those considering such a coalition, suggesting that the difference between the alleged "moderate" United Arab List and the "extremist" Joint List was merely a disagreement over the type of state that would arise on the ruins of the Jewish state: an Islamic state like Hamas in Gaza, or a Palestinian nationalist state like Fatah. He concluded that both agreed on one point: "Israel, as a Jewish state, has no right to exist!"