Israeli Prime Minister Gadi Eisencott has on Friday accused the outgoing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of inciting a non-Arabic campaign against the Arab minority in the country after the latter tried to delegate representatives of this community, linking them to Hamas.
Eisenkot’s statement provides a rare occasion when a prominent Jewish politician publicly and strongly defends the Arab citizens of Israel, who make up more than 20 percent of the country’s population.
The two majority Arab parties — Ra ‘%am and the Joint List — won a total of 19 seats in last month’s elections, securing nearly one sixth of 120 seats in parliament. For this reason, they can play a crucial role in Eisenkot’s efforts to form the new government.
Israeli Arab citizens are part of Israel’s history, Eisencot wrote on Friday on the X platform.
They have faced a racist and aggressive campaign for their delegation, driven for political purposes by the outgoing prime minister and people around him, he added.
The attempt to marginalise and collectively tarnish an entire community constitutes grave violation of the principles of civic responsibility, Eisencot stressed.
Netanyahu and his allies have repeatedly criticised Arab parties’ leaders for refusing to name Hamas a terrorist organisation, following the October 7th 2023 unprecedented attack on Israel.
However, all leaders of Arab parties have condemned the attack, during which Arab Israeli citizens were also killed, descendants of Palestinians who remained in territories that became part of Israel in 1948.
Netanyahu has also repeatedly claimed that majority Arab parties have committed electoral fraud, but election authorities have rejected these claims.
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Source Layer: Signal
