Anti-Arab rhetoric could pay dividends: Arab-Israeli MK

By Kaamil Ahmed

JERUSALEM (AA) - Anti-Arab rhetoric by the Israeli right may encourage more Arab-Israelis to take part in politics, senior Arab-Israeli lawmaker Ayman Odeh told reporters Monday.

The head of the mostly-Arab Joint List in the Knesset (Israel's parliament) voiced hope that the phenomenon could serve to reverse the current decline in Arab-Israeli electoral participation.

"Because we built the Joint List, there is no inner competition between the parties in the Arab sector,” Odeh said.

“I think this time we have a chance to have the most important competition between us and the right wing," he added.

He cited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertions during Israel’s last general election that Arabs were being "bused in" to vote by left-wing activists.

"What he said during the last election day, that maybe helped him to bring out voters on that but it could be… something that will help us bring out voters in the next election," said Odeh.

He added: "I think Arabs want to put their entire weight into the political process in the hope of overthrowing the right."

According to Odeh, 78 percent of Arab-Israelis had voted in elections until they became disillusioned with the Israeli left under former Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Arab-Israelis could not work with the mainstream Israeli left until the latter changed its policies, Odeh asserted, going on to describe Israel’s left as a mere "shadow of the right”.

He went on to say it was a "moral outrage" that the Israeli authorities had razed homes in Arab towns and villages and that a Bedouin man killed during a recent home demolition had been accused by Israeli officials -- with scant evidence -- of being a member of the Daesh terrorist group.

The lawmaker also criticized Netanyahu's reaction this week to complaints that a road in the country’s north had been named after late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

"Netanyahu started inciting because in one village they decided to name a street ‘Yasser Arafat’,” he said.

“You can be completely against Yasser Arafat, but Arafat is a symbol... of the national liberation movement," said Odeh. “He chose peace and negotiations.”

He went on to point out that there were streets in Israel that had been named after late Israeli Tourism Minister Rechavam Zeevi, who had called for the expulsion of Palestinians from Israel.

According to Israel's official statistics bureau, Arab citizens account for roughly one fifth of the country’s population, but they complain that they lack equal representation in politics and society.

Twice so far this year, Arab-Israelis in the country's north have declared strikes to protest home demolitions carried out by the Israeli authorities in the central towns of Qalansawe and Umm al-Hiran.

Around 40 Bedouin villages in the southern Negev desert are unrecognized by Israel and have little access to water and electricity, even though their residents are Israeli citizens who often serve in Israel’s military.