Following spate of violent riots in east
Jerusalem and Israeli Arab towns, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
says rioters have no place in Israel • PM consults security advisers,
decides against taking major steps, vows "strong hand" against rioters.
Riots in the Arab village of
Arara, Saturday
|
Photo credit: Yitzhak Barbi |
Following a spate of public disturbances in
east Jerusalem and in Israeli Arab towns over the weekend, Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israeli Arabs, who enjoy the
benefits of Israeli citizenship "can't have it both ways."
"They can't enjoy National Insurance stipends
and child allowances while simultaneously violating the most basic laws
of the State of Israel," Netanyahu told his cabinet at the weekly
meeting on Sunday. "I call on the leaders of the Arab community to act
responsibly and stand up to this outpouring of violence and restore
calm. Anyone who fails to respect the law will be arrested and punished
severely."
Credit: Reuters
The riots were sparked by the death of
Muhammad Hussein Abu Khdeir, whose charred body was found in the
Jerusalem area on Wednesday. Believing that Jews had abducted Abu Khdeir
and subsequently murdered him in revenge for the murder of three Jewish
teenagers last month, rioters clashed with police
and vandalized property throughout the weekend and into Sunday. Police
are investigating the murder, and it is not yet clear who committed the
crime.
On Saturday, Netanyahu held a security
consultation with Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, Interior Minister
Gideon Sa'ar, Israel Police Commissioner Insp. Gen. Yohanan Danino, and
Shin Bet director Yoram Cohen. Ultimately, Netanyahu decided not to take
any major action and to allow the forces currently in the field to
contain the events.
At the end of the meeting, Netanyahu issued an
instruction to "wield a strong hand against violence by rioters" and
declared that "anyone who breaks the law will be taken care of in the
harshest manner."
The prime minister called on the Arab leaders in Israel to work to stop the rioting.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, on the
other hand, took to his Facebook page with a less cautious tone,
posting: "It's good the police arrested the Arabs who were rioting. Now
we expect the legal system to use a firm hand in dealing with those who
enjoy Israeli citizenship but act like terrorists. These events have
once again made it clear that these people have no place in the State of
Israel, and for now, their place is in prison."
During a visit to Sderot in response to the
ongoing rocket fire, Lieberman added that "talk about a cease-fire is a
real mistake. The belief in answering quiet with quiet is a serious
mistake, and we reject it. Rather than dealing with the problem, we're
deferring it. This isn't the way to fight terror."
Habayit Hayehudi head Naftali Bennett also
criticized the policy of forbearance. He said that strategy of meeting
quiet with quiet harmed deterrence and "allows Hamas to grow stronger.
Restraint in the face of shooting on women and children isn't strength.
Restraint in the face of the execution of three kids is weakness. The
residents of the south aren't second-class citizens, and rocket fire on
Beersheba should garner exactly the same response as rocket fire on Tel
Aviv would."
Labor Party Chairman MK Isaac Herzog
criticized Lieberman's remarks about Israeli Arabs, saying he opposed
"preaching and provocative generalizations."
"Rioters should be handled on an individual basis, without staining the entire Arab sector," he said.
Herzog added that he had spoken with the local
authority heads of Qalansawe, Tira, and Baqa al-Gharbiyye and that
they had told him that the incidents were young people rioting in
response to the events of the past few days and that they were doing
everything they could to prevent them from recurring.
Outgoing President Shimon Peres also called for
restraint. In a conversation with Mazzen Ganaim, mayor of Sakhnin and
chairman of the Committee of Arab Municipal Authorities, the president
asked Ganaim to spread a message of calm and tension diffusion among
heads of Arab local authorities.
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