Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he regretted
offending Israel’s Arabs during a rallying call on election day last
week that his critics had denounced as racist.
In a video clip posted on his Facebook page,
Netanyahu told representatives of Israel’s Arab community: “I know that
the things I said a few days ago offended Israel’s Arabs. I had no
intention for this to happen, I regret this.”
Fearing his voters would stay home, Netanyahu, who
won a surprise election victory last Tuesday and is set to head a new
government, accused left-wing organizations of bussing Arab-Israelis to
the polls “in droves” to vote against him.
“The rule of the right is in danger,” he said at the time.
Speaking to the group of Israeli Arabs at his
official residence in Jerusalem on Monday, Netanyahu said: “I consider
myself as prime minister of each one of you, of all Israel’s citizens,
regardless of religion, race or gender.”
While he got a warm reception from those present, his
comments were rejected by Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint Arab List,
which secured 13 seats at last week’s election to become the third
largest force in parliament.
“We do not accept this apology. It was to a group of
elders and not to the elected leadership of Israel’s Arabs … I want to
see actions, how is he going to manifest this apology? … will he advance
equality?” Odeh told Israel’s Channel 10.
Israeli Arabs make up around 20 percent of the country’s eight-million-strong population.
They are descendants of residents who stayed put
during the 1948 war of Israel’s founding, in which hundreds of thousands
of fellow Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their homes, ending
up in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria as well as in the occupied West Bank,
Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
No comments:
Post a Comment