Top Arab MK urges ‘incitement’ probe of Netanyahu

Joint (Arab) List leader Ayman Odeh demands that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein initiate an investigation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alleging that Netanyahu defamed his party and incited violence against Arabs.

Leader of the Joint (Arab) List Ayman Odeh (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

During a speech Monday, Netanyahu spoke out against Arab Knesset members, accusing some of them of inciting a recent wave of attacks against Israelis. He also characterized the Balad party, part of the larger Joint List, as “communists with a trail of Islamic State flags in their wake.”

Netanyahu has himself said that he will advance a criminal investigation of Join List MK Hanin Zoabi, who made comments that appeared to urge more attacks against Israelis.

In a letter to Weinstein, Odeh writes, “Instead of spreading lies, the prime minister should have shown support for the Joint List Knesset members who firmly condemn the Islamic State terror group and repeatedly voice their opposition to bloodshed and the killing of innocents.”