- Former Israeli Arab MP blames Israel for violence in Arab society, calls for “civil disobedience”
As the number of killings in Israeli Arab society rises – as of now 175 Israeli Arabs have been killed in internal Arab crime in 2023 – the Palestinian accusations against Israel get wilder and wilder.
The newest libel was voiced by one of the regular columnists for the official PA daily. Bassem Barhoum alleged that the killing of Israeli Arabs is carried out according to a plan devised by “Israeli forces” with the goal of creating fear and that way make Israeli Arabs want to “emigrate”:
“It is clear that the Israeli forces, which stand behind this plan, rely on an atmosphere of strife, fear, and terror prevailing in order to make the Palestinian residents inside the Green Line (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel; see below) think about emigrating and saving themselves and their families.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 5, 2023]
Palestinian Media Watch already exposed that Palestinians and Israeli Arabs have blamed Israel for the surge in crime within Israeli Arab society, claiming it is a “deliberate Israeli strategy” to “dismantle the Arab public” in Israel. But this latest PA libel goes even further by specifying who is responsible. The official PA daily columnist suggested that the masked Israeli Arab killers are in fact “special Israeli forces from the [Israeli] army’s undercover brigades,” who are murdering innocent Arabs “in an intensifying systematic manner”:
“Who said that these masked people who are spreading crime are not special Israeli forces from the [Israeli] army’s undercover brigades?
What we are witnessing today… is an act by a security establishment and dedicated intelligence forces that are managing the acts of crime in an intensifying systematic manner.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 5, 2023]
A prominent member of the Israeli Arab society, former Israeli Arab MP Wasil Taha, has attempted to use the libel to fuel civil unrest within Israel, calling on Israeli Arabs to increase “civil disobedience,” which should then develop into “an extensive phenomenon of struggle” across all of Israel:
Former Israeli Arab Parliament Member Wasil Taha: “I personally accuse the Israeli establishment that is leading the organized crime in the Arab sector … The issue of civil disobedience and raising [the subject] in these circumstances is appropriate, and it must be strengthened. We need to take action. We need to start with civil disobedience in some of the villages and cities until it spreads and becomes a phenomenon, an extensive phenomenon of struggle from the Negev in the south to Fassouta in the north (i.e., region in Israel)”
[Official PA TV, Talk of the Hour, Sept. 1, 2023]
The following is a longer excerpt of the column cited above:
Excerpt of a column by Bassem Barhoum, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “Beware of the ethnic cleansing plan in the Palestinian Interior”
“When crime becomes a daily and organized act, this means that we stand before a fascist and apparent plan of ethnic cleansing (refers to surge in Israeli Arab crime -Ed.).
It is clear that the Israeli forces, which stand behind this plan, rely on an atmosphere of strife, fear, and terror prevailing in order to make the Palestinian residents inside the Green Line (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel; the Green Line is the ceasefire line between Israel and the neighboring Arab countries, 1949-1967) think about emigrating and saving themselves and their families. This is tantamount to a great warning to those concerned and the decision makers. We are approaching the point of no return. Israel is now at the peak of its fascism, and it has a government whose entire task is to execute a comprehensive process of ethnic cleansing, a malicious process in which the victims appear like those slaughtering themselves with their own hands.Who said that these masked people who are spreading crime are not special Israeli forces from the [Israeli] army’s undercover brigades?
What we are witnessing today… is an act by a security establishment and dedicated intelligence forces that are managing the acts of crime in an intensifying systematic manner.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 5, 2023]
Green Line – 1949-1967 ceasefire line between Israel and the neighboring Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) following Israel’s War of Independence (1948-1949). Land within the Green Line is all part of the State of Israel since 1949. Land outside the Green Line includes East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights.
{Written by Nan Jacques Zilberdik and reposted from PMW}
