Leader Of Arab Knesset List Incites Arab Police To ‘Throw Down Their Arms And Quit’

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Aymen Odeh, who heads the Joint Arab List in the Knesset and is considered by some Israelis a moderate, caused outrage Sunday after he called on Arab police to “throw down their weapons and quit.” Odeh said that police serving in security forces in East Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria were “humiliating” their own people and should quit.

In the Arabic video, posted from Shaar Shechem (Damascus Gate) in Jerusalem, Odeh said that his ultimate goal was to see the Palestinian flag flying over Jerusalem.

Odeh’s comments registered outrage from all parts of the Knesset, with both left and right-wing parties lambasting Odeh, especially in light of the terror wave which Israel is currently facing. Among those killed in the current wave was Arab Israeli officer Amir Khoury, who was hailed as a “hero of Israel” after he died in a firefight stopping the terrorist who carried out the Bnei Brak shooting attack.

“Recently, I have met with many groups from occupied Arab Jerusalem. Young Palestinians with Israeli citizenship have told me that they are being harmed and humiliated. It is important for me to tell you from here, the Damascus Gate, that it is a humiliation for one of our sons to join the security forces,” Odeh said in the video, posted to his Facebook page.

Palestinians have been attacking Israel Police at Damascus Gate on a nearly daily basis since the start of the Ramadan.

Odeh said Arab Israelis who join the Israeli security forces were “humiliating our people, humiliating our families and humiliating everyone who comes to pray in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

“Our historical position is that we will be with our people to end the murderous occupation so that the state of Palestine will be established and Palestinian flags will be hoisted on the walls of Jerusalem,” he said.

Odeh called on those who had already joined to “throw the weapons in their faces.”

“Young people must not join the occupation forces. I call on the young people who have already joined, who are no more than one percent, a total of a few thousand, whose joining is insulting and humiliating, I call on them — throw the weapons in their face and tell them that our place is not with you. We will not be part of the injustice and the crime,” he said.

Arab Israelis had to be a part of the “Palestinian Arab people, and in a just war to bring an end to the criminal occupation,” he insisted.

A spokesperson for Odeh later claimed that his remarks referred exclusively to those serving in Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem, as opposed to civilian police.

“This is our usual position against the Arabs joining the occupation forces beyond the Green Line,” she said, referring to the 1948 ceasefire line between Israel and neighboring Arab states.

However Israeli officials were unconvinced and media reports say that police had asked the attorney general for an opinion on whether Odeh’s remarks warranted opening an investigation into incitement to violence.

Several MKs in the opposition Likud party also called for Odeh to be investigated.

“Ayman Odeh’s call for Muslim police officers to throw down their weapons, at a time when Israel is in the midst of a battle against terror from within and without, is serious incitement that could lead to violence against the officers and harm to the security of the nation,” tweeted former finance minister Israel Katz. “Odeh’s place is not in the Knesset but in jail.”

“In a just world this man would be arrested tonight and tried quickly,” said former Likud police minister Amir Ohana.

There had been rumors that the Bennett government, currently without a majority, had made overtures to the Joint Arab List to help them pass legislation in the current Knesset. However in the wake of Odeh’s statement, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Yemina party put out a statement stressing that “despite rumors, the Joint List will not be part of the coalition or government.”

Odeh noted that “no one has approached us” from the government in the wake of the recent developments but refused to commit to voting no-confidence it the alternative would mean a government led by Likud leader Netanyahu, whom he dubbed “the most dangerous person in the country.”