Bennett urges Israeli Arabs to oppose prisoner release

The head of the nationalist religious Jewish Home party made an unlikely appeal to Israel’s Arab community Sunday to join him in opposing the release of Israeli Arab prisoners as part of a deal to extend peace talks with the Palestinians.

In a poorly written Arabic-language statement posted to his Facebook page, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, who has threatened to leave the government if a release goes through, said the move would turn Israel’s Arabs into second-class citizens, a charge often leveled by members of the community against Israeli officials.

Bennett wrote that the community would be the first to suffer from the proposed release, which he called an example of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meddling in the internal affairs of Israel.

“The release of Israeli Arabs actually makes you into second-class citizens,” he wrote. “A deal like this drops your demands for full equal rights and justice.”

“Abbas is coming along and changing this sector of the public, de facto, into fifth columnists,” Bennett charged.

One element of a proposed deal shaping up would see Israel release a number of Israeli-Arab prisoners serving time for terror-related offenses, as well as Palestinian inmates, in exchange for the extension of peace talks which are due to come to an end and the possible release of American-Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, who is serving a life sentence in the US.

Bennett and his hawkish party have come out against the deal, threatening to bolt the government if it goes forward.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman dismissed Bennett’s threats in comments published Sunday, saying he did not believe he would go through with the threat to leave the coalition.

A senior minister was quoted by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily saying the Jewish Home party, and in particular its leader, would not be missed. “If Bennett pulls out, no one will object to the development and no one will cry,” the unnamed minister said.

The source claimed that Bennett only made his threat to bolt the government because he believes that the prisoner release deal won’t actually go ahead. However, he said, Bennett has been deliberately kept in the dark about behind-the-scenes machinations to prevent him leaking any details.

The minister said Israel and the Palestinians will hammer out an agreement on the prisoners after the week-long Passover holiday that begins on Monday night.