Israeli defence chief wants Arab boycott after protests
JERUSALEM: Israel’s defence minister called for a boycott of Arab businesses in an area where residents took part in violent protests against President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Avigdor Lieberman, who heads the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, said the Arabs of Wadi Ara in northern Israel were “not part of us” and that Jewish Israelis should no longer visit their villages and buy their products.
Hundreds of Israeli Arabs protested on Saturday along a major highway in northern Israel, where dozens of masked rioters hurled stones at buses and police vehicles.
Three Israelis were wounded and several vehicles were damaged.
“These people do not belong to the state of Israel. They have no connection to this country,” Lieberman told Israel’s Army Radio.
“Moreover, I would call on all citizens of Israel – stop going to their stores, stop buying, stop getting services, simply a boycott on Wadi Ara. They need to feel that they are not welcome here.”
Lieberman has long called for Wadi Ara to be included in his proposed swap of lands and populations as part of a future peace agree- ment with the Palestinians.
The residents, like many of Israel’s Arab minority, sympathise with the Palestinians of the West Bank and often openly identify with them. But they are also Israeli citizens who largely reject the notion of becoming part of a future Palestinian state.
Ayman Odeh, the head of the Arab Joint list in parliament, said Lieberman’s call for a boycott of Arabs was reminiscent of the worst regimes in history.
Gilad Erdan, the minister of public security from the ruling Likud Party, said that Lieberman’s diplomatic plan was not applicable and he rejected the notion of giving up the country’s sovereignty just because it had Arab citizens.
The violent protests were part of the larger Palestinian “day of rage” following Trump’s announcement that he recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and planned to move the US Embassy there. —