Joint List Chairman, MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash), attacked far-right Prime Minister Netanyahu and Kahol-Lavan (Blue & White) Chairman Benny Gantz on Friday, September 6, for their racist attitude towards the Joint List, the political representation of the vast majority of Arab citizens of Israel.
Hadash MKs Ayman Odeh, Aida Touma-Sliman and Ofer Cassif at an election campaign rally in South Tel Aviv, last Tuesday evening, September 3 (Photo: Zo Haderech)
Odeh commented on the remark he floated during an interview with Yidioth Ahronoth, published on August 23, about the possibility of the Joint List joining a coalition headed by Blue & White: “I see that Netanyahu doesn’t want Arabs in the Knesset; Gantz doesn’t want Arabs in the coalition.” Odeh addressed the opposition expressed by Gantz to the idea, saying that, like Netanyahu, Gantz is “looking for an Arab who doesn’t have a national identity; a pro-Zionist Arab – as a fig leaf.”
Odeh also related to Netanyahu’s initiative to enact legislation that would allow cameras to be deployed at the polling stations, circumventing the prohibition ordered by the head of the Central Elections Committee last week, saying that “Netanyahu’s intention is to intimidate the Arab public.” He added that the Likud initiative to put cameras in polls in the Arab towns and neighborhoods is purely racist, considering that “the only party under investigation for election fraud is the Likud.” Other than wanting to discourage Arabs from voting due to fear, “there’s no doubt that Netanyahu’s purpose [in proposing this legislation] is also to show that there’s someone stealing something, so that the general public comes to believe that the elections are being stolen.”
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