A Knesset Interior Committee meeting erupted into a shouting match after MK Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi) defended racist property developers who refuse to sell homes to Arabs. The meeting, held on Wednesday, July 15, was initiated by several MKs, among them Hadash MK Ayman Odeh (Joint List) following news reports that Galil Homes refuses to sell homes to Arabs in the mixed Jewish and Arab northern town of Ma’alot-Tarshicha.

Ma’alot-Tarshicha City Hall (Photo: Wikipedia)

Smotrich said that “anyone who wants to protect the Jewish People and opposes mixed marriages is not a racist. Whoever wants to let Jews live a Jewish life without non-Jews is not a racist.” According to Smotrich, Jews are the ones who are deprived, because “they don’t get free land in the Negev,” a reference to Arab-Bedouin. “I believe in God’s words,” the Bayit Yehudi MK added. “I prefer that Jews manage to make a living without needing to sell houses to Arabs.”

MK Odeh responded that he is against all displays of racism and anyone who wants to live near him is welcome, adding that his neighborhood in Haifa used to be entirely Arab and in recent years it became 25 percent mixed, which “adds to and enriches” the area. He said he is sure this is not the last time the committee will discuss discrimination and racism.

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Report by Coalition against Racism: Increase in Racist Comments by Israeli Elected Officials