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Zoabi (L) and Tibi

Local Arab sector condemns attack—and Israel

While Arab MK Freij renounces Friday's deadly terrorist attack by saying 'We must shake off people who have left our midst,' several other Arab MKs mainly blame 'the occupation and policy of Judaization and political purge,' as MK Zoabi stated.

The deadly attack on the Temple Mount on Friday, in which two Druze policemen, Staff Sgt. Maj. Ha'il Satawi and Staff Sgt. Maj. Kamil Shnaan, were killed by Arab Israelis from Umm al-Fahm, triggered mixed reactions in the Arab sector. In addition to condemnation by the Monitoring Committee of Arab citizens in Israel and many social activists, MKs from the Joint List said they "reject all forms of violence" but stressed that "Israel is responsible for the volatility at the Temple Mount." They later condemned the government's actions without mentioning the terrorists themselves and warned against "the right exploiting the event by inciting against Arabs."

 

 

Monitoring Committee of Arab citizens in Israel Head Muhammad Barakeh condemned the attack, saying that it did not contribute to the Arab public's struggle to defend its rights and holy places. The committee also warned against the implications of the closure of the Al-Aqsa mosque and the decision not to allow prayer at the site until Sunday.

 

"Since 1969, we have been participating in a public struggle that has proven its success over the years," he said. "The deviation from our path, as we saw yesterday in Jerusalem, will not help anything, and we warn the government against exploiting the shooting with the aim of inciting against the Arab public."

 

Barakeh (Photo: Motti Kimchi) (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
Barakeh (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

 

Arab MK Issawi Freij (Meretz) strongly renounced the deadly attack. "Israeli civilians killed Israeli policemen at the entrance to a holy site. There is no way to describe the horror, or even to try to understand it," he said. "We must shake off people who have left our midst. The dimensions of the hatred blinded them until they chose to kill their countrymen."

 

Tibi (Photo: Eli Mandelbaum)
Tibi (Photo: Eli Mandelbaum)

 

"They exploit the attack to incite against Arabs"

MK Haneen Zoabi (Joint List) said in response to the events, "We place the full responsibility of everything that is happening on Israel's occupation policy, aggression and murder of the Palestinian people. It is impossible to sever what is happening from Israel's policy. The settlers' takeover of Al-Aqsa has lead to deeper feelings of humiliation and injustice, and anyone who does not want to recognize the connection and insists on linking the responses to incitement and extremists is the one who decides to sacrifice the citizens.

 

Zoabi (Photo: Yehuda Peretz)
Zoabi (Photo: Yehuda Peretz)

 

"The Israeli establishment knows that we support a political struggle, it knows that we are fighting for an end to the occupation and the policy of Judaization and political purge, and that we even call for the confiscation of weapons, that the police themselves know where they are and who holds them, though it refuses to confiscate it, as long as it harms us and not the Jews, She added. "All the scare and intimidation tactics are doomed to fail."

 

Officers killed in the attack: Satawi (R) and Shnaan (L)
Officers killed in the attack: Satawi (R) and Shnaan (L)

 

The reactions of MKs Ahmad Tibi and Osama Sa'adi (Joint List) jointly warned against exploiting the events for incitement, and they also urged the government to allow prayer on the Temple Mount. "The position of the Arab leadership has always been that the use of weapons is not the instrument of struggle of the Arab citizens of Israel," they said. "Our struggle is political and public, nonviolent and unarmed. We reject violence of any kind, including in holy places, and we regret the loss of human life. Our opinion is that the bloodshed must be stopped, so that families and parents will not kill their sons and loved ones.

 

Two of the three killed terrorists: Two of the three terrorists: Muhammad Hamed Jabarin (L) and Muhammad Jabarin
Two of the three killed terrorists: Two of the three terrorists: Muhammad Hamed Jabarin (L) and Muhammad Jabarin

 

"It is indeed time to emphasize that the continuation of the occupation, including the occupation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy sites, is the root of all evil, and that the occupation should be ended to save lives on all sides. The right wing is exploiting what happened due a campaign of incitement against the Arab public in general and Umm al-Fahm in particular, despite the Arab public's position published by the Monitoring Committee."

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.15.17, 15:11
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