Effi Eitam, a far-right former minister who has been nominated as the next head of the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, responds to widespread criticism leveled against his selection.
“People say that when the allegations are baseless and unfounded, there is no point in responding. But I am here to respond,” Eitam tells the Kan public broadcaster in an interview, saying he has a deep connection with the Holocaust and its memory.
Earlier this month, in the latest protest against Eitam, a broad coalition of 750 Jewish studies scholars and directors of Jewish and Holocaust museums signed a petition opposing the proposed appointment.
His critics say he is unfit to lead Israel’s Holocaust memorial because he is accused of calling for most Palestinians in the West Bank to be expelled and for Arab Israelis to be excluded from the country’s political system.
Chairman of the Afek oil drilling company Effi Eitam, seen at the Supreme Court during a hearing on oil searching in the Golan Heights, on December 23, 2014, in Jerusalem. (Flash90)
“I have always opposed any talk of a transfer,” Eitam argues, referring to the expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank. “Anyone with an ounce of integrity can look through my interviews and see that.
“But I did say one thing, and I stand behind it: If a war is declared upon us by people, communities, or groups that want to turn Israel into a terror arena, we shall fight with all our might, decisively.
“Expelling the Arabs of Judea and Samaria is not a goal, it’s a consequence,” he says, referring to Palestinians in the West Bank. “There may come a situation — a tragic one — as part of violent fighting, in which a civilian population will be harmed.”
Regarding his comments that Arab MKs should be expelled from the Knesset, he says: “I think Arab Israelis should make a clear choice whether they are partners — with full rights — in building the State of Israel, which is the state of the Jewish nation, or they are actively undermining its existence as such.”
He says that when Arab lawmakers meet people like Syrian dictator Bashar Assad during a war, “that’s a situation that no democracy can accept.” He estimates that most Arab Israelis do want to be part of Israel.
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