“The expression ‘Eretz Yisrael’ (Land of Israel) is colonialist, and not only do I not accept it, I oppose it, is that clear?” MK Ahmad Tibi (Joint Arab List) told hosts Ben Kaspit and Yinon Magal in an interview on radio station 103FM Monday morning.
Tibi added: “I reject with disgust the phrase ‘Judea and Samaria,’ it is the Palestinian West Bank, in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
Tibi also told Yinon Magal, who served a brief stint as Habayit Hayehudi MK in 2015: “It feels like I’m on a job interview for Labor or the Likud.”
Tibi was asked about the negotiations between his party and Blue&White on the former entering a Benny Gantz-led coalition government.
Host Kaspit said: “I hear that you want to cancel the anthem, Hatikvah, the Law of Return, Zionism.”
Yinon then quoted Joint Arab List MK Aida Touma-Suleiman, who said Blue&White must oppose President Trump’s “deal of the century” in order to get the support of the Arab party.
Tibi suggested his hosts were quoting a fake post on Benjamin Netanyahu’s Facebook page, which ran the Joint Arab List’s conditions for entering a Gantz government.
“The prime minister is lying, misleading the public, what he has posted was unrelated, it did not come out of the joint list as demands. We have a platform and he can quote from our platform as much as he likes. We love our platform, but presenting it to the public as our demands is a lie and a basis for incitement.”
Education Minister Rafi Peretz (Yamina) said in response to MK Tibi that “Eretz Yisrael is our ancestral land, an expression of the fulfillment of Zionism and the vision of the prophets.”
Peretz said that the fact that men such as Benny Gantz, Moshe Ya’alon, Gabi Ashkenazi, Elazar Stern, Yoaz Hendel and Zvi Hauser were about to collaborate with a man like MK Tibi spelled “difficult days for Israel,” and blessed them that they would “come to their senses soon.”