Israel Police chief rejects Odeh’s comments calling for Arab cops to quit

Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai assails Joint List party chief Ayman Odeh for comments in which he called on Arab Israelis not to serve in security forces, including the police, operating in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“I won’t allow anyone to besmirch Arab officers, our brothers in arms,” Shabtai says in a speech during a ceremony for elite police units.

“The police, under my command, will be a fortified wall in the face of anyone who wishes to harm them and undermine their Israeli identity and the responsibility that so courageously took upon themselves.”

Odeh caused outrage on Sunday when he said Arab Israelis serving in the security forces in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were “humiliating” their own people and called on them to throw down their weapons and quit.

Odeh’s remarks specifically referred to Arabs serving in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which have seen high tensions in recent weeks, not those serving as police inside the pre-1967 borders.

The lawmaker’s comments nonetheless sparked calls to investigate him for inciting violence as Israel is facing the deadliest wave of terror attacks in years.

Odeh, in a Ramadan video posted from the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, also said his ultimate goal was to see the Palestinian flag flying over Jerusalem.

On Monday, Odeh doubled down on his comments despite the wall-to-wall criticism, and also called on Jewish Israelis to refuse to serve in the “occupation forces” in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.