Libel: Netanyahu gave “personal instructions” for Jews to attack Arabs, claims former Israeli Arab MP
Official PA TV program Palestine This Morning
ChairmanofTheHighFollow-UpCommitteeforArabCitizensofIsraelMohammadBarakeh:“We are participating in a national struggle (refers to violent Arab riots; see note below -Ed.). We have no weapons. We are an unarmed people here in the Interior (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel). Israel chose to deal with us as if we were under military rule in an occupied area. It is natural that we would stand with Jerusalem. It is natural that we would stand with the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It is natural that we would stand with the Sheikh Jarrah [neighborhood of Jerusalem]. And it is natural that we would stand with the Gaza Strip in light of the horror of this bombing and aggression (refers to Israeli defensive operation in response to Hamas rocket barrages -Ed.). But Israel wants to bring us into a military confrontation. We cannot be part of it. Therefore, you see this aggression and our young people standing with full heroism and full courage against this racist Israeli flood. This is something that does not happen at all, except in fascist regimes and regimes that are even closer to Nazism, where the state is aided by street gangs against the minority public that it is ruling.These are things in history. In other words, it is known where it was and in which places, and Israel apparently wants to enter this polluted and twisted club.”
Official PA TV reporter: “You spoke about the settler herds, and this is indeed a troubling phenomenon. We saw how they behave in the streets of Lod, Jaffa, Haifa, and Acre (i.e., all Israeli cities). In essence, what are the consequences of this escalation, and what is the danger of effectively mobilizing civilians to help the Israeli police and to take part in this security campaign?”
Mohammad Barakeh: “First, these extremist and racist individuals are working under the personal instructions of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, and he promised them protection. In other words, the soldiers’ actions that the media cameras can record, which are likely to bring them to court – you cannot ask the fascist and racist groups to be obligated in the same manner [to accountability as the soldiers are].
Therefore, they are carrying out the regime’s missions outside of the rules that the regime needs to uphold, and these are mainly rules regarding violence and fascism. This is a serious development because it threatens the communal welfare… They are threatening to invade this village and that city and the like. Apparently in the Israeli establishment there are those who are still dreaming of repeating the scenes of the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel). I want to tell them clearly: The scenes of expulsion and dispersal will not repeat, and we will not leave our homeland, even if we stand facing death, and we will not deny our affiliation with the Palestinian people. This regime is carrying out these actions thinking that it can break us. It is true that we are not in a struggle of equal forces, this is a state with forces, media, courts, police, an army. But we have determination…
Under no circumstances will we agree to be under a military administration in a new guise, but this indicates the insanity in this establishment. All the concepts of citizenship and democracy… left the discussion. They are treating us as if we are under military rule…
Two days ago [May 13, 2021] there was a meeting of the High Follow-Up Committee [for Arab Citizens of Israel] (i.e., an extra-parliamentary umbrella organization that represents Arab citizens of Israel), and we turned to the international community with a request for international protection. Of course, I am not asking that they send forces to defend our villages and our cities, but the international community needs to have its say about this regime that has begun to carry out actions more serious than what the apartheid regime in South Africa carried out.”
[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, May 15, 2021]
Mohammad Barakeh is a former Israeli Arab Parliament member.
Fatah/Hamas Riot and Rocket War 2021 – On April 30, 2021, facing certain electoral defeat, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas cancelled the first PA elections scheduled in 15 years. Hamas, which expected to win the elections, denounced it as a “coup.” In need of a conflict to divert public discontent, Abbas artificially generated a crisis over Jerusalem. His Fatah party called for "raising the level of confrontation,” and Abbas' spokesman told Palestinians "the battle of all battles is here.” Jerusalem Arabs responded by attacking Jews with rocks and Molotov cocktails. Hamas, Abbas' political rival, could not allow Abbas to lead the battle, so on May 10, 2021, Hamas launched rocket barrages targeting Israeli population centers including Jerusalem. Over the next 11 days, Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired over 4,300 rockets into southern and central Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing 9 Israelis and 3 foreign nationals, and wounding hundreds. In response, Israel launched Operation Guardian of the Walls to target Hamas terror leaders and terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Already in mid-April, a planned eviction of some Palestinian families illegally living in Jewish-owned buildings in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem had led to clashes between Palestinian residents and Israeli police. This dispute provided Palestinians with a pretext for violent rioting. Adding to the crisis, Israeli Arabs started rioting throughout Israel, especially in cities with a mixed Jewish and Arab population. Two Jews were murdered and many were wounded. According to Walla, an independent Israeli news site, 10 synagogues were wholly or partly burned down; fires were set in 112 Jewish homes and 1 Arab home mistaken for a Jewish home; 386 Jewish homes were plundered and 673 were damaged; 849 cars were set ablaze; and there were 5,018 rock-throwing attacks. In response, Jews started attacking Arabs and their properties as well, but on a much smaller scale. No mosques were burned; 13 Arab homes were damaged; 13 Arab-owned cars were burned; and there were 41 rock-throwing attacks by Jews. [Walla, May 16, 2021] The fighting between Israel and Hamas ended with a ceasefire on May 21, 2021.