The Israeli occupation police chief is facing racism accusations over statements he made about Arabs and Palestinians during a phone call.
The commissioner of the Israeli police, Kobi Shabtai, was accused of racism after saying that it was in the nature of Arabs to kill each other, said a record of his phone call published by Israeli media.
The Israeli official was discussing oppressive security measures taken by the Israeli police to tackle “violence in Arab communities” with extremist Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israeli media said.
“There is nothing to do. They kill each other. It is in the nature of Arabs,” he said, Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 reported.
Israeli media outlet Arutz Sheva noted that the representatives of Arab parties in the Israeli Knesset were outraged by the police commissioner’s words, noting that Mansour Abbas, the leader of Arab party Ra’am called on occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaa Herzog to condemn the racist statement coming out of “Tel Aviv”.
No official reaction has come out of any official or the two politicians so far.
The statement came out at a very sensitive time between Palestine and the Israeli occupation, as the Israeli occupation forces raided Wednesday dawn Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Al-Quds and assaulted the Palestinians who are stationed there as part of the religious practice of Itikaf, which is highly prevalent during the holy month of Ramadan.
As a prelude to the raid, an Al Mayadeen correspondent reported, the Israeli occupation forces cut the power off Al-Qibli prayer hall despite hundreds of Palestinians being stationed there.
In light of the raid, Palestinian media said injuries had been recorded in Al-Qibli prayer hall of Al-Aqsa, with there being calls for medics to be sent to the holy site.
This comes amid concerns about racism within the Israeli occupation forces, especially under the reign of the incumbent far-right Israeli government.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called in February for the Palestinian town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank to be “wiped out” after two Israelis were shot dead by a Palestinian resistance fighter. Hundreds of Israeli settlers later torched Palestinian homes and cars in the West Bank town.
Last year, Smotrich became a minister in the cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which analysts call the “most right-wing government in the country’s history.”
In his racist statements, Smotrich accused Arabs of “inventing fictitious people and claiming fictitious rights.”
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh blasted the “inflammatory” remarks made by far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that “Palestinians do not exist.”
“There are no Palestinians because there are no Palestinian people,” Smotrich said, quoting French-Israeli Zionist activist Jacques Kupfer while speaking at an event in Paris according to a video circulating on social media.
source: Almayadeen
