JERUSALEM (JTA) — Arab-Israelis demonstrating against Israel and calling for a Palestinian state are welcome to leave, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
His comments Monday followed the stabbing that day of an Israeli soldier in Tel Aviv as well as days of rioting in the Arab-Israeli sector in the wake of the shooting death by police of an Arab-Israeli man who allegedly threatened them with a knife.
“To all those who are shouting against Israel and demonstrating against it, you are welcome to move to the Palestinian Authority or to Gaza, Israel won’t stand in the way,” Netanyahu said Monday at a Likud party faction meeting.
“The terrorism against us knows no borders. It is aimed at all parts of the country for a simple reason: The terrorists and those who incite to it want to get rid of us wherever we are. As far as they’re concerned, we don’t need to be in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or anywhere else,” Netanyahu said, promising “they will not succeed.”
Netanyahu said he would continue to fight terrorism by destroying terrorists’ homes and passing laws to deter terrorists. Amid rioting in the Arab-Israeli town of Kfar Kana in northern Israel on Saturday, the prime minister threatened to strip the citizenship of Israelis calling for the destruction of Israel or its replacement by a Palestinian state.
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