Middle East Monitor / July 4, 2024
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described Arab [Palestinian] citizens of Israel as “an existential threat to the state”.
Speaking during a radio interview on Tuesday, Smotrich said: “It is impossible not to talk about the great threat posed by Israeli Arabs, as there are huge numbers of Arabs within our country.”
Smotrich claimed “they possess quantities of weapons and ammunition, and have missiles for sabotage and hand grenades stolen from Israeli army bases, and they live in communities.”
“God forbid if the Iranian occupation plan comes true, and there is an invasion from many places, and Israeli Arabs who own hundreds and thousands of weapons participate in the war, while they are among us… and this is an existential threat to the state of Israel,” he added.
Arabs constitute about 21 per cent of the Israeli population.
