Israeli Official Incitement: July 2019

Israeli Official Incitement: July 2019

This report highlights recent inciting statements made by senior Israeli officials; including members of Israeli political parties, newly elected members of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset), as well as leaders of extremist and illegal settlers’ organizations. It includes examples of official Israeli incitement against Palestinian prisoners, martyrs and their families, the Palestinian population in Gaza, the indigenous Palestinian citizens of Israel, Human Rights defenders, as well as against the President of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian leadership.

I. Palestinian Prisoners, Martyrs, and their Families

Uzi Dayan, MK Likud (Twitter, 22 July)

“To destroy the houses of terrorists - even if they did not kill anyone!...terror does not take a break, postponing the response reduces the power deterrence.”

Oded Forer, MK Yisrael Beitenu (Twitter, 17 July)

“Congratulations to the Prime Minister who prevented enacting the death penalty law for terrorists despite his commitment and promises. The privileges enjoyed by terrorists in the jail are the result of the failure of the Prime Minister and the Interior Security Minister who are not stopping the summer camp [good conditions]that the terrorists receive, and allow them to have developed TVs, visits and mobiles.”

Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister MK Likud (Israel’s army radio Glz , 7 July)

“….we should never release any single prisoner.”

II. The Ongoing Israeli Assault on Gaza

Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister MK Likud (Twitter, 3 July)

“….our policy is clear, we want to restore calm but in return we are preparing for a broad military operation if necessary, these are my instructions to the army.”
 

Benny Gantz, Former Chief of Staff of the Israeli occupying army and the Head of Blue White party, in an interview with Kan Radio on 11 July

“We should not accept any violation to our sovereignty, any violation to our sovereignty must be confronted with force, the violation is not an issue which happens once, and therefore we should have reacted by force and waged a strong attack including assassinations.”

III. Human Rights Defenders

Yair Lapid, MK Blue White party against Omar Shaker, the Israel and Palestine Director of Human Rights Watch (Twitter, 26 July)

“Omar Shaker must be deported, he is not a ‘Human Rights activist’, he is an anti-Semite BDS activist, and it is the right of the state of Israel to deport whoever is working against it.”

 IV. The Indigenous Palestinian Citizens of Israel

Likud party published a video on 30 July blaming Benny Gantz, Head of Blue White party, for speaking in the video about his intent to cooperate with Palestinian MKs

“ Gantz, what kind of coalition you wish to establish with the National democratic assembly? To establish a Palestinian State..to withdraw from all lands? What kind of cooperation you want to do with Ahmad Tibi who perceives Arafat as the teacher who glorified martyrs? Or with Ayman Odeh who supports the terrorist Marwan Barghouthi?”

Miri Regev, Minister of Culture and Sports, MK Likud, on the decision of the Israeli ‘Supreme Court’ to halt funding to al-Midan Theatre in Haifa (Facebook, 22 July)

“Justice has come to light. After four years of fighting against al-Midan Theatre, the high court of justice acknowledged that we won. This theatre, which dared to allow a play for the terrorist (prisoner Walid Daqa, a Palestinian citizen of Israel) who murdered the soldier Moshe Tama was not at all a theatre in the recent years but a platform for inciters against soldiers and against the State of Israel, It's not art, it is incitement….”

V. President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Leadership 

Gilad Erdan, Minister of Internal Security, Minister of Strategic Affairs and Minister of Information, MK Likud (Twitter, 16 July)

“This week I revealed to the government that the "terrorist in the suit" Abu Mazen not only incites for terror, finances and supports terrorists, but now together with the Palestinian Authority they have strengthened their support to BDS…”

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Chairwoman of Israeli Law Center Shurat Hadin, on the ruling of the district court to hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for attacks carried out during the second Intifada (Channel 20, 8 July)

“It is a historic victory. These were the first unprecedented cases filed against the Palestinian Authority. We claimed at the beginning that the Palestinian Authority is a terror organization which supports terror and terror operations, and the court found out that it is actually responsibility for terror attacks carried out by terror organizations such as the PLO, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. This proves that Intifada was not a popular revolt but an organized war against the Israeli civilians. Arafat tried to achieve what he could not accomplish through Oslo accords that is terror and suicide attacks and gun fire. The Palestinians aim was to kill Jews in Israel, therefore it will pay a dear price.”

Miri Regev, Minister of Culture and Sports, MK Likud (Facebook, 8 July)

“Terrorists remain terrorists. The Jerusalem district court ruled today an unprecedented decision that the Palestinian Authority bears responsibility for the attacks carried out during the second Intifada by terrorist organizations that were sponsored by the Palestinian Authority, and therefore it will be forced to pay compensations regarding 17 cases of damage filed on behalf of the affected people by ‘Shurat Hadin’. I welcome this judicial decision and the achievement of ‘Shurat Hadin’.…: the Palestinian Authority was and remains a supporter to terror as well as its president – in the past and today.”

Mordhay (Moti) Yogev, MK United Right (Twitter, 8 July)

“The mask has been removed – again. (The) District Court judge Moshe Drori revealed in his ruling the real face of the ‘Partner’ :  ‘The Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen, Arafat ... all strived for one purpose: killing Jews and Israelis and harming the State of Israel.’ Do you want to make peace with those despicable killers? Do you want to hand over parts of the land of Israel to those murderers?”

VI. Additional Examples  

Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister MK Likud in a speech on 10 July on the 40^th anniversary of the establishment of the illegal Settlement Council in the West Bank

“  ….we will never evacuate any town in Israel in any political settlement…we don’t displace people, this is absurd, you all know what happened when we made the evacuation, did we get peace in return? We got terror and rockets…”

Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Transportation and Road Safety MK United Right (Twitter, 29 July)
 

“A powerful hand against anyone who attacks our soldiers and police. But I do care if the attackers are Arabs or Jewish. There is no comparison between the brother and the enemy. On the one hand if they are Jewish it hurts me much more. On the other hand I treat my brothers differently even if they violate the law…”

Ayalet Shaked, Former Minister of Justice and Head of United Right party (Twitter, 22 July)

“In a tour with Regavim movement, the Palestinian Authority controls Area C through unlicensed construction and agriculture. The upcoming Security Minister and Prime Minister must allocate necessary resources to enforce the law against the illegal construction and stop the takeover.”

Itamar Ben Gvir, Member of Oztma Yehudit party (part of the United Right party) on the arrest of Mahmoud Qatusa, a Palestinian man that was unjustly accused of kidnapping and raping a Jewish child (Twitter, 10 July)

“Nationalist terror is terror by all means! I reiterate that: whoever rapes a Jewish female based on nationalist motives as part of his war against the people of Israel- he must die in an electric chair…”

 Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister and MK Likud tweeted (Twitter, 10 July):

“As I requested and in coordination with the Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, and the security apparatuses,  the memorial in Issawiya was removed in memory of a terrorist. We will not allow it!”

Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister MK Likud tweeted (Jpost, 7 July)

“A new study of DNA recovered from an ancient Philistine site in the Israeli city of Ashkelon confirms what we know from the Bible – that the origin of the Philistines is in southern Europe. The Bible mentions a place called Caphtor, which is probably modern-day Crete. There’s no connection between the ancient Philistines & the modern Palestinians, whose ancestors came from the Arabian Peninsula to the Land of Israel thousands of years later.”

Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Transportation and Road Safety MK United Right, in support of Regavim, an illegal Settler Organization, which organized a campaign for raising Palestinian flags in Area C claiming that it is threatened by Palestinian control (Twitter, 7 July)

“The time has come for us to wake up and stop the Arab takeover of our homeland. These flags are not dangerous, but the thousands of houses and roads and trees that the Arabs are building and paving and planting against our will - yes! Responsibility lies on the shoulders of one person- Netanyahu.”

Michael Ben Ari, leader of the extremist Otzma Yehudit party, kicked off his party’s electoral campaign by calling for the expulsion of Palestinians (Jpost, 5 July)

“We want to resettle our enemies in their countries. They said they disqualified me for this. We’ll give them a bottle of mineral water and even a sandwich. We’ll find them countries of origin they can go to. They told us this is racist.”

Mordhay (Moti) Yogev, MK United Right (Twitter, 4 July)

“The Palestinian takeover of Area C is a ticking political bomb. Also, in the opinion of those who support the partition of the country, this dangerous process means eliminating the need for negotiations. I urge the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense and the Likud members to confront this challenge. We are losing control over the fate of our country.”

In a Video titled "The State of Terror Behind the Doors" produced by Regavim, an illegal Settler Organization, the leaders of illegal Settlement Councils described the Palestinian State as a ‘Terror State’ and warned against the Palestinian Authority’s control over "Judea and Samaria" (Facebook, July 2)