Nazareth Mayor Ali Salam on Monday night removed the head of the Joint Arab List Mk Ayman Odeh from the Christmas parade in his town.
“I banished him five years ago and today, too,” Salam told News 13. “Knesset members do nothing for Arab society and only see them during election campaigns.”
“This city is the City of Peace, we don’t talk about the Knesset here,” Salam added. “Let the MKs go do something that will help Arab society, all they do is attack. Here they show up during the election season, Odeh has no place in Nazareth.”
MK Odeh office responded: “I was delighted to come to the Christmas parade and attend it from start to finish. Thank you to all the residents of Nazareth who are close to my heart for their warm welcome.”
Joint Arab List MK Aida Touma-Suleiman said that “Ali Salam is indeed the mayor of Nazareth, but the masses of people who poured their love on Odeh in the city prove that he, too, is a son of this city. We will continue to work in all cities with the public that voted for us in droves.”
This is not the first time the mayor of Nazareth has attacked Odeh. Four years ago, Salam stopped his car next to the MK when he was in the middle of a live TV interview and shouted at him, “Leave – I don’t need to see you in Nazareth! Get out of here, you and people like you!”
The mayor argued that due to the behavior of MKs from the Joint Arab List, who organized wild riots in the city, Jewish shoppers were avoiding the city, whose business relies on Saturday Israeli shoppers.
“Ayman, go look for trouble elsewhere, you’ve ruined the city for us. Go away, enough with the interviews. I’m the mayor, tell them to do something. There wasn’t even one Jew here today. Not even one,” Mayor Salam yelled from his car at the head of the Joint Arab List.
Ali Salam, 67, has been the mayor of Nazareth since 2014. He was born in Nazareth, the eldest son of a worker in the local Dubek cigarette factory. Salam is a Sunni Muslim, married, and the father of 11 children.