Livni to Arabs: You don’t have to choose between Israel and Hamas

Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni on Saturday warned Israel’s Arab minority against aligning themselves with the Hamas terrorist group, amid outrage over the allegedly violent arrest last week of over a dozen Arab activists protesting the IDF’s handling of the violence along the Gaza border.

“The Arab minority does not have to choose between Hamas and Israel,” Livni said at a cultural event held in the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Acre. “Hamas is against the very existence of the state that you are a citizen of, against peace and against the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.”

While she underscored her commitment to upholding civil rights in Israel, Livi said that Israeli Arab lawmakers were responsible for not encouraging Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israelis.

“I support you in the struggle for equality in the Jewish state, but there are two sides to this equation: equality and the existence of the Jewish state,” she said.

Livni charged the ruling Likud party, the pro-settlement Jewish Home party, and the Knesset’s only Arab faction were spreading racial tensions and ideologies incompatible with a two-state solution.

“I don’t accept that the Jewish Home and the Likud are erasing equality, just as I don’t accept that the Joint (Arab) List reject Israel as a Jewish state,” she said. “Both if these [ideologies] will lead to a single state and a violent confrontation.

“So fight for equality, but don’t fight against Israel’s right to defend itself,” Livni said. “The responsibility of coexistence falls on both sides. The Jewish majority must committed to equality and respect of minorities, and the leadership of the Arab minority must not encourage terrorism against their own country.”

Livni’s comments Saturday came amid heightened tensions in the nearby city of Haifa, where Arab residents have accused police of violently suppressing a Gaza solidarity rally last weekend and illegally arresting participants.

Twenty-one people were detained late last Friday night at a rally against the deaths of dozens Palestinians during clashes with troops at the Gaza border in recent weeks. One activist — Jafar Farah, chairman of the Mossawa rights group — sustained a broken knee and had to be hospitalized. He says that a police officer kicked his leg, shattering his knee, while he was held overnight.

Since March 30, tens of thousands of Palestinians have taken part in weekly “March of Return” protests, which Israel says are orchestrated by the ruling Hamas terror group in Gaza and used as cover for attempted attacks and breaches of the border fence.

The deaths of over 100 Palestinians in the recent clashes were met with international outrage and calls for an independent investigation of events. Hamas and other Gaza terror groups have subsequently claimed 50 of casualties as their own members.

Police maintain the arrests in last week’s protest were “carried out lawfully and in accordance with procedures,” but have not offered an explanation for Farah’s injury. They said the protests had included stone throwing at officers, property damage, attempts to block roads, and the disturbing of public order.

On Sunday, all 19 protesters were ordered released by a judge, and the Justice Ministry’s police internal investigations department announced that a probe into the incident had been opened.

Meanwhile, Ayman Odeh, the head of the Joint (Arab) List, accused the police of “brutal” treatment of the demonstrators, saying their “claims that raising the Palestinian flag constitutes incitement, is untrue and also illegal.”

His comments drew ire from Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman who called Odeh and his colleagues “terrorists” who should be jailed for supporting the Hamas-led protests.

On Monday, Joint List MK Youssef Jabareen met with EU Ambassador to Israel Emanuele Giaufret to draw his attention to the matter.

A day later, an EU spokesperson said in a statement that it was “important, as supported by the Israeli government, to conduct a swift investigation into circumstances surrounding events last week in Haifa.”

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz blasted the EU in response, saying the 28-nation bloc could “go to a thousand, thousand hells” for making the demand of Israel. He said that calling on Israel investigate the incident even after Justice Department was looking into the matter was “the height of insolence and hypocrisy.”