Israel's Official Incitement: September 2020

Israeli Official Incitement: September 2020

This report highlights recent racist and inciting statements made by senior Israeli officials, including parliament (Knesset) members, against the Palestinian leadership and people, including martyrs and prisoners and their families, the BDS movement, and Human Rights Defenders.

I. Palestinian Prisoners, Martyrs, and their Families

Uzi Dayan - Member of Likud party, (Facebook, 22 September)

"Stones also kill! My demand was finally met for an emergency session in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on the policy of combating terrorism. We will summon the victims of stone terrorism and decide on vital effective measures: shooting in the field and supporting the victims, demolishing the homes of terrorists and their aides, expelling families, stopping payments to the terrorists and their families, legal support, and all that is necessary..."

Ayelet Shaked - Member of Yemina party, (Facebook, 15 September)

"Because the Palestinian Authority (PA) pays salaries to these terrorists, the state can confiscate the PA's tax revenues and transfer them to the (Israeli) bereaved families …"

Naftali Bennett - Chairman of Yemina party, (Facebook, 3 September)

“In secret, and without our knowledge, both Netanyahu and Gantz have once again rejected the decision (for the third time) to stop the transfer of salaries to terrorists and their families (…) This means that hundreds of killers of Israelis will continue to receive fat salaries as a reward. 110,000,000 shekels every month (!) Why did Netanyahu and Gantz reject? Because they fear the Palestinian Authority's response and the protests. Sure, there could be protests, but that's why we have the IDF1. I say again and again: This money encourages the next terrorist to go out and kill Israelis. It is very distorted, immoral, and dangerous to allow this money to be transferred in exchange for killing ..."

II. BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) Movement/ Human Rights Defenders

Uzi Dayan -Member of Likud party, (Facebook, 22 September)

“Anti-Israel = anti-Semitic. The following message is part of our ongoing struggle against BDS organizations in particular and anti-Semitism in general. I am conveying this message to you on behalf of the "Shurat HaDin"2  organization, which is representing Rebecca Ram 3 in a defamation lawsuit against the BDS activist, who targeted her in a shaming campaign…”

Avi Dichter - Member of Likud party, (Facebook, 10 September)

“I proposed a bill in the Knesset, in cooperation with Knesset Member Matan Kahane. This bill will correct a provision in the Penal Code that allows the prosecution of Israelis who transfer sensitive information to foreign bodies or terrorist organizations intending to harm Israel's national security and endangering the lives of its citizens.

Thus, organizations claiming to be human rights organizations such as "Ta'ayush"4  have caused innocent Palestinians to be interrogated by the Palestinian Authority and disappear completely. Organizations such as "Breaking the Silence" and BDS have slandered IDF soldiers before "justice bodies" around the world, with the aim of turning them into war criminals.

From now on, every citizen who acts against the State of Israel, for the Palestinian Authority or any other hostile body in the world, knows that he will be criminally prosecuted and punished with the utmost severity."

Kathrin (Keti) Shitrit – Member of Likud, (Facebook, 9 September)

"The Ministry of Interior allows BDS founder Omar Barghouti to work from inside Israel! Germany and Austria declared BDS an anti-Semitic movement, and Britain refused to grant him an entry visa due to his ties to terrorism and anti-Semitism. How is it possible for Israel not to withdraw his residency and let him work freely within its borders?"

III. President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Leadership

Matan Kahane – Member of Yemina party, (Facebook, 10 September)

"The Palestinian Authority is an enemy and should be treated as such.

It is time to correct the law's breach, which deals easily with Israelis that are cooperating with Palestinian Preventive Security. The law for cooperating with a foreign body is outdated.5 The existing law does not refer to the Palestinian Authority (as it did not exist at the time this law was enacted). The Israelis who cooperate with Palestinian intelligence, "Preventive Security," are accused, if at all, of minor offenses because the Palestinian Authority is not on the list of foreign bodies.

Today, in cooperation with my colleague, Knesset member Avi Dichter, I submitted an amendment to the "contact with a foreign body" law to include the Palestinian Authority. Collaborators who work with the Palestinian Authority against the interests of the State of Israel must be punished with the utmost severity penalties as those who have had contact with an enemy state."

IV. Additional Examples

Avi Dichter – Member of Likud party, (Facebook, 8 September)

"Khan al-Ahmar6 is a symptom, the problem is Area C. The Palestinian Authority has built a reinforcement strategy in Area C at the State of Israel's expense. Khan al-Ahmar is not the largest place. According to the Civil Administration, there are some thousands of homes that have been built without a permit and dozens of kilometers of roads. The Palestinian Authority turned Khan al-Ahmar into a driving force to mobilize the European Union and other organizations. This is not a sacred or controversial locality. This is an illegal locality that needs to be moved to its assigned place. Unfortunately, we have been discussing this issue for a very long time. After the Supreme Court approved the evacuation of the locality, we continue to procrastinate. The more they build and the less we destroy, our deterrence erodes, and their audacity grows stronger!"

Kathrin (Keti) Shitrit - Member of Likud party, (Facebook, 24 September)

"I worked together with the head of the Mount Hebron Regional Council, Yohay Demri, to prevent the illegal Palestinian invasion of "Negohot"7 This is an important message for the rule of law in the State of Israel and settlement(s) that attests to de facto sovereignty. The territories of Judea and Samaria8 are not no man's land. We will not give up state lands, the quality of life in the Mount of south Hebron, and the security of residents …"

Kathrin (Keti) Shitrit - Member of Likud (Facebook, 13 September)

"The Civil Administration is delaying access to the Cave of the Patriarchs9 due to the expectation that the mayor of Hebron, a convicted terrorist with blood on his hands, will file his opposition to the plan. The deadline for submission has passed, including the extension. However, the Administration still insists that no progress should be made before the objection of the person who shed the blood of six people and wounded twenty more is accepted. It is illogical for officials to allow a terrorist to subjugate the State of Israel. I urgently appealed to the Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, to stop this absurdity and immediately make it accessible to the disabled and the elderly people to the second sacred site to the Jewish people."

Bezalel Smotrich - Member of the Yemina party (Facebook, 15 September)

“… No one has the right to cede the land of Israel. The entire Land of Israel is ours, a withdrawal from the path of sovereignty and a return to the Oslo Accords in exchange for this agreement is a terrible mistake..." 

 

Avi Dichter - Member of Likud, (Facebook, 16 September)

"Israel signs peace agreements with the UAE and Bahrain, and the Palestinians launch missiles.

Embassies will be moved to Jerusalem, and the Palestinians will carry out attacks.

We will build and impose sovereignty over our communities10 , and the Palestinians will fund prisoners of terror...”

Eli Cohen - Minister of Intelligence, Member of Likud party, (Facebook, 15 September)

"Today, 15^th of September, is a historic day for the Middle East. An agreement that will change the face of the regional, political, and security map-, as well as create an axis made up of Israel and the Gulf states in the face of the axis of evil consisting of Iran, Turkey, and the Palestinians."

• 1. In reference to Israel's occupying army
• 2. Shurat HaDin is an Israeli Law Center (NGO) focusing on representing so-called “Jewish terror victims”
• 3. A former Israeli soldier who filed a lawsuit against Suhair Nafal, a BDS activist, for posting her photo online alongside martyr Razan Al-Najjar, a paramedic who was killed by Israeli soldiers during the March of Return Demonstrations in 2018
• 4. “Ta’ayush” is an Israeli-Palestinian grassroots organization working together to end the Israeli occupation and achieve full civil equality through daily non-violent direct actions
• 5. Section 24 (a) of the Israeli Penal Code
• 6. Palestinian Bedouin village in the Jerusalem Governorate.
• 7. An illegal settlement located south of Hebron
• 8. In reference to the occupied West Bank
• 9. In reference to the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron
• 10. In reference to Israel's illegal settlements