Yair Netanyahu Calls Arab Citizens a Threat; Tibi Rejects Remarks

Yair Netanyahu, the son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, described Arab citizens as Israel’s greatest threat apart from a nuclear Iran in a social-media post on Friday, October 30. MK Ahmad Tibi rejected the remarks as racist and said he would continue to work for cooperation and equal rights. The exchange concerned Arab citizens and their place in Israel’s political life following the election for the 26th Knesset. In his Hebrew-language post, Yair Netanyahu ranked the threat he attributed to Arab citizens above those posed by Palestinians in Judea and Samaria and Gaza, Turkey, and antisemitism in the West. He also asserted that a state could not survive over the long term if 20% of its population identified with its enemies and wanted its destruction. Those descriptions were Netanyahu’s claims about Arab citizens. His post presented them as conclusions he drew from the election. Tibi rejected that characterization, saying Arab citizens worked for their living. He said his camp would keep pursuing a shared future based on cooperation and equal rights. Addressing the possibility of another election, rather than announcing that one had been scheduled, Tibi said his supporters would vote in greater numbers and with greater determination.