MK Smotrich from Racist Yamina: “Arab-Bedouin are a Time Bomb”

On Thursday, June 9, a racist far-right lawmaker called the birthrate among Arab-Bedouin women in the Negev desert a demographic “time bomb” that Israel needs to defuse. MK Bezalel Smotrich, Transportation Minister in Netanyahu’s previous government, made the remark during a tour of the Negev with fellow members of the Yamina (“Rightwards”) alliance. “This is the type of bomb where if we don’t neutralize the explosive mechanism, it will explode with all the more force against us,” he said, and stated that his goal is “to maintain the Jewish majority, not just in Israel but in the Negev.”

"Tough guys": Body language trumps all – MKs from Yamina during the tour they conducted in the Negev, last Thursday, June 11; Don't let the macho poses confuse you – these people are dangerous. Smotrich is second from right with arms folded. Yamina's leader, with even a more aggressive pose, is MK Naftali Bennet (third from left), Defense Minister in the previous government. Today, Yamina is in the opposition, in part because, with Netanyahu's hyper-inflated cabinet, they couldn't get the portfolios they sought; in part to outflank the Likud from the right. In the center, wearing the green blouse and brandishing a less "in your face" stance is MK Ayelet Sheked, a former Justice Minister who was and is committed to delimiting and weakening the status of the Supreme Court (High Court of Justice), so that the Knesset can be absolutely sovereign in fomenting ultra-right legislation that undermines universal human rights… Whose lives matter? According to Yamina's ideology, certainly not those of the Bedouin, let alone those of ay Arabs.

“Tough guys”: Body language trumps all – MKs from Yamina during the tour they conducted in the Negev, last Thursday, June 11; Don’t let the macho poses confuse you – these people are dangerous. Smotrich is second from right with arms folded. Yamina’s leader, with even a more aggressive pose, is MK Naftali Bennet (third from left), Defense Minister in the previous government. Today, Yamina is in the opposition, in part because, with Netanyahu’s hyper-inflated cabinet, they couldn’t get the portfolios they sought; in part to outflank the Likud from the right. In the center, wearing the green blouse and brandishing a less “in your face” stance is MK Ayelet Sheked, a former Justice Minister who was and is committed to delimiting and weakening the status of the Supreme Court (High Court of Justice), so that the Knesset can be absolutely sovereign in fomenting ultra-right legislation that undermines universal human rights… Whose lives matter? According to Yamina’s ideology, certainly not those of the Bedouin, let alone those of any Arabs. Photo: Yamina).

“Smotrich is desperate for attention. I demand they issue a restraining order against him for gas stations, in case he repeats the mistakes of the past,” Hadash MK Ayman Odeh, head of Joint, wrote on Twitter. Odeh was referring to Smotrich’s arrest by the Shin Bet security service ahead of the 2005 Gaza disengagement. Smotrich was held on suspicion of planning to block major roads and for stockpiling gasoline to allegedly damage infrastructure in a bid to prevent the withdrawal, but was released without charges being filed against him. Joint List MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash) called Smotrich a “racist and Arabophobe”, who she said never, missed a chance to incite against Arabs.

Smotrich lives near the Kedumin settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories, in a house that was illegally built. He first entered the Knesset in 2015, has a history of racially tinged remarks, including calling for segregated maternity wards and saying “illiterate” Arab students were taking the places of others at Israeli universities.

In 2006, he helped organize the “Beast Parade” as part of protests against the Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem. In July 2015, Smotrich caused a controversy by declaring in a Knesset Interior meeting that real estate developers in Israel should not have to sell homes to Arabs. In July 2016, Smotrich stated he was “not willing to recognize Reform Jews conversions and their fake religion.”

In April 2018, Smotrich tweeted that Ahed Tamimi, a 17-year-old Palestinian serving an eight-month jail sentence for fighting occupation, “should have gotten a bullet, at least in the kneecap.” In June 2019, while pushing to be appointed Justice Minister (just after the previous Justice Minister had been fired) Smotrich stated, “We want the justice portfolio because we want to restore the Biblical justice system,” and that the country should aspire to run itself as “in the days of King David.”