Barakeh: Not surprised
צילום: חגי אהרון
MK Barakeh gets threatening letter
Envelope contains Hadash chairman's picture with swastika on it. letter saying he will 'pollute' Auschwitz with his presence
Hadash Chairman MK Mohammad Barakeh received a threatening letter to his office Monday following his decision to participate in a delegation to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland.
Ynet has learned that the letter came with a picture of Barakeh, on which a swastika had been drawn. He has filed a complaint with the Knesset Officer.
Barakeh's office told Ynet he receives many threatening letters, and that these are usually opened carefully and then given to the Knesset Officer.
However the letter in question was not, as in the past, related to his parliamentary activities but rather to an upcoming trip, and therefore triggered suspicion.
Type-written in Hebrew in red, blue, and black print, it resounded with curses and said, "Don't pollute with your presence Auschwitz-Birkenau, the place where a million and a half Jews were killed. Instead of going to Poland please go visit the grave of the Nazi mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini, a good friend of Hitler's, or else go to Gaza or to hell."
The letter concluded by calling Arabs "trash". A newspaper article on a bill proposed by MK Danny Dannon (Likud) was attached. Dannon had proposed that Barakeh be banned from traveling with the delegation.
Barakeh's picture, with a swastika drawn on his forehead, was also included. Yet the MK says he was not surprised.
"If an MK appealed to this level of ignobility and said in parliamentary language that I shouldn't be allowed to go, than why shouldn't a citizen react this way? I have long since ceased to marvel at people's ignoble racism," he said.
He added that it was "needless to ask" whether the letter would stop him from traveling to Auschwitz for the 65th anniversary of its liberation.
'Barakeh's decision courageous'
Following the Ynet report the Abraham Fund Initiatives, an organization battling for equality between the Arab and Jewish sectors, called on Barakeh to stick to his decision to travel to Poland.
"Barakeh's decision is proof of leadership and the courage to learn about the Holocaust as a singular event in human history. We must hope that additional Arab leaders will follow his lead, and that this step will encourage Jewish leaders to look into the eyes of the Arab public and admit to its ongoing suffering and historical narrative," the organization stated.
Last week Ynet revealed that Barakeh walked out of a lecture held for the members of the delegation at Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum.
The Arab MK was angered by remarks made by the lecturer, who made accusations against communists and Arabs in the Muslim world. Barakeh said the lecturer called them anti-Semites due to claims they have raised against the Israeli government. Yad Vashem sources said Barakeh chose to distort the lecturer's words and they regret the MKs actions.
He accused the lecturer of belittling the Holocaust, said he would have no part in the farce, and stormed out of the auditorium. "I regret that there are people who try to use this terrible tragedy in order to push a political agenda," Barakeh said.
