Rightists to Arabs: Get paid, leave Israel

Posters hung by far-right party Herut in Arab neighborhoods, communities across country call on residents to emigrate from Israel in return for compensations. These fascist racists are the ones who should leave, Arab leaders say

Ali Waked|Published: 03.23.06 , 12:04

Residents of the Arab neighborhoods in Jaffa leaving home for work Thursday morning were shocked to discover posters hung by the far-right Herut party outside their doors, calling on them to emigrate from Israel in return for compensations.

Similar posters were also hung in Jerusalem and other Arab communities across the country.

"Herut activists are lucky they hung the posters like thieves at nighttime," former soccer player and resident of the Ajami neighborhood in Jaffa, Rifat Turk, told Ynet. "Had they tried doing it during the day, our good guys would give them the treatment they deserve, and I'm not sure how they could have gotten away," he added.

While some of the locals responded to the posters with a smile, chairman of the Ajami neighborhood committee Kamal Agbariya was not the least bit amused. "This is pure racism," he told Ynet. "These guys said today what a lot of people thought and think but dare not pronounce. This only proves how racist the Israeli society is," he stated.

According to Agbariya, "under the pretense of dialogue with the residents and not a forceful eviction, Herut is trying to present a seemingly enlightened racism, but it's still racism. Everything must be done in order to stop this, even if this is obviously an election campaign gimmick."

"Just think," Agbariya said, "how the world would respond had such posters been hung in Jewish neighborhoods across the world, inviting Jews to evacuate the country for compensations. Here this is being dismissed with silence and a smile, but make no mistakes, the transfer, and in particular the financial transfer, has raised its ugly head and needs to be stopped in time."

Turk: Evict Kleiner

Turk, on his part, made chairman of the Herut party, Michael Kleiner, an opposite proposal: "We will raise money and offer all the bigots like him to choose any country in the world willing to put up with them."

"I was born in this neighborhood and I don't know from which hole in Europe Kleiner and his supporters came," he added. "I'm the landlord here and I will not be expelled."

Chairman of the Hadash party Mohammad Barakeh also responded with fury to Herut's posters. "People like Kleiner, who preach for ethnic cleansing and racism, belong in jail and not in the democratic arena. A democratic system that legitimizes this fascist slur is itself infected with the disease." He said.

"The Arab citizens are rooted in this country's landscape. They will stay here and the fascists are the ones who will fade away," he concluded.