Netanyahu: Israel Will Act Forcefully Against Arab Rioters Calling for Israel's Destruction

Netanyahu-at-UN_smallerPrime Minister Netanyahu stated on Sunday during his weekly cabinet meeting that Arab and Palestinian rioters calling for the destruction of Israel will be “punished severely”.

For weeks, riots in Jerusalem, its holy sites, and now spreading throughout Arab Israeli towns in the Galilee region, have become more intense. The riots have been instigated and promoted by Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and the Islamic Movement.

Prime Minister Netanyahu stated on the uprisings: “Israel is a nation of law. Whoever violates the law will be punished severely. We will not tolerate disturbances and riots. We will take determined action against those who throw stones, firebombs and fireworks, and block roads, and against demonstrations that call for our destruction. We are not prepared to tolerate more demonstrations in the heart of our cities in which Hamas or Islamic State flags are waved and calls are made to redeem Palestine with blood and fire, calling in effect for the destruction of the State of Israel.”

The prime minister placed blame on instigated riots and violent on “the various Islamic movements: Hamas and the Islamic Movement in Israel. In the forefront, at least vis-a-vis the agitation on the Temple Mount, are the Mourabitoun and the Mourabiat – movements engaged in incitement and which are financed by funds from extremist Islam” adding that “also standing behind this incitement is the Palestinian Authority and its leader, Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas]. The website of their official body, Fatah, explains that the Jewish people were, in effect, never here, that the Temple was never here, that David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah and the kings and prophets of Israel are all fiction. This is nothing less than a clear attempt to distort not only the modern truth, but also the historical truth. Against these distortions and these gross lies, we must tell the truth to our people and to the world.”

Netanyahu also stated that he has instructed the interior ministry to “possibility of revoking the citizenship of those who call for the destruction of the State of Israel.”

There have been countless attacks on Israeli security forces, acts of vandalism, a swastika spray painted onto a bus stop in an Arab town near Haifa, as well as thousands joining violent protests in which tires are set on fire and rocks thrown at Israelis and Israeli security forces.

Overnight Sunday, Arab Israelis removed an Israeli flag from a police station near Misgav and replaced it with a Palestinian flag.

At least 20 protestors were arrested in Kafr Kanna after attacking Israeli police and setting up roadblocks.

Israeli security forces are on high alert as the wave of violence and riots continue.

Photo credit: Africa Renewal (Creative Commons) – Some Rights Reserved

AmirTsarfatiAmir Tsarfati, a Jewish Christian, is the founder and president of Behold Israel, a news site to correct the scarcity in trustworthy reportage on issues and events impacting Israel, and to resolve the uncertainty about who or what to believe.

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