Arab lawmaker rejects hint that Arab arson behind fires

The country’s top Arab lawmaker on Thursday hit back at Education Minister Naftali Bennett for suggesting that fires raging across the country had been intentionally set by non-Jews.

“To my regret, someone decided to exploit this dreadful situation to incite and to lash out at an entire community,” said Ayman Odeh, the head of the Joint (Arab) List Knesset faction.

“Whoever loves our homeland has to focus right now on putting out the fires and helping the injured and not on fanning hate.”

On Wednesday night, Bennett, the head of the nationalist-religious Jewish Home party, seemingly accused Arabs of setting the fires, writing on Twitter that they could only have been set off by “someone who this land this does not belong to.”

Israel has been wracked by hundreds of brush fires since Tuesday, consuming homes and acres of forest and open land.

On Thursday, at least five fires broke out near the northern city of Haifa, prompting mass evacuations as forests, homes and business burned.

Odeh, born and raised in the mixed Jewish Arab city nestled between the sea and the Carmel mountain ridge, expressed dismay over the blazes.

“It’s hard to look at the Carmel mountain range going up in flames and the serious fires all over the country. I hope the fires will stop quickly before there is serious injury and further damage to the beautiful nature of our land.”

A spokesperson for the fire service said there were suspicions the blazes in Haifa had been set intentionally.

A police spokesperson said the cause of the fires, including the possibility of nationalistic arson, were being investigated.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was evidence at least some fires had been set by arsonists.

Bennett is head of the nationalist-religious Jewish Home party, a champion of the settlement enterprise and a strong opponent to the idea of a Palestinian state, on religious as well as security grounds.