From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 8, 2024
Arab lawmaker accuses government of ‘legitimizing’ genocide against Gazans, citing minister’s comments
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Hadash-Ta’al party chairman Ahmad Tibi accuses the Israeli government of “legitimizing” genocide against the Palestinian population of Gaza, declaring that “this is how the Nazis spoke about the Jews.”
“The finance minister said that there are two million Nazis in Gaza,” Tibi says, referring to recent statements by Bezalel Smotrich. “This is how you legitimize genocide.”
“And when it sounds Nazi, looks Nazi, it’s neo-Nazi. Even if the minister is Jewish,” he says.
Tibi’s comments come on the heels of Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer’s announcement that he is collecting lawmakers’ signatures in an effort to expel Hadash-Ta’al lawmaker Ofer Cassif from the Knesset over his public support for a South African motion accusing Israel of genocide before the International Court of Justice.
His “treasonous words must no longer be heard while the blood of our soldiers and citizens screams from the ground,” Forer declared, accusing the Cassif of joining “one of the most destructive initiatives for the security of the State of Israel, thus supporting the fight of Hamas against Israel.”
Tibi asserts, “The prosecution in the Hague is based on the words of Smotrich, of Ben-Gvir, and Eliyahu, and not on the words of Cassif. Those who talk like this want the war to continue, and do not want to bring back the hostages.”
Both Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have called for the “voluntary” migration of Palestinians from Gaza, while Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu had suggested that Israel could drop a nuclear bomb on the coastal territory.
In its application filed last week, South Africa accused Israel of actions during its war against Hamas in Gaza that are “genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent… to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.”
Responding to the petition, Israel accused South Africa of a “blood libel” and the United States denounced the motion as “meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”
