Ayman Odeh claims that deadly Arab attacks against Jews will not continue after the “occupation” ends.
By World Israel News Staff
An Arab lawmaker from the anti-Zionist Joint List party said that the reason for a brutal terrorist shooting spree in Bnei Brak on Tuesday evening that left five Israelis dead was Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria.
“Five civilians were killed today, each of them a world in its entirety. They are added to the 51 Palestinians killed since the beginning of the year, each one a world in its own right. The heart is torn in the face of the bereavement and loss of all families.”
In a tweet that followed, he stated: “I strongly oppose any harm to civilians, Palestinians or Israelis, and any harm to innocent people. It is time to end the source of hatred and that is the damned occupation, and to establish peace that will bring security and a normative life to both peoples.”
Although Odeh wrote that his “heart is torn in the face of the bereavement and loss of all the families,” he leveraged his statement to raise the issue of “51 Palestinians killed since the beginning of the year, each one a world in its own right.”
It’s unclear if Odeh was referencing Arab Israelis slain in clan-related blood feuds, underworld violence,and honor killings, or those killed by the IDF for violent acts, such as stabbing Israeli civilians and soldiers.
Odeh’s statement ignores a centuries-long history of virulent Arab and Islamic antisemitism, which predates the existence of modern Israel.
Arab terrorism against Israelis began well before the “occupation.” Indeed, arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat launched the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1964, three years before Israel captured eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights (and Sinai, which it returned to Egypt) in the Six-Day War.
“Liar! That was never the reason [for Arab terror],” Jenny Aharon, an advisor on Israel-European Union relations, replied to Odeh’s tweet.
“Where is your shame?” an outraged Israeli wrote to Odeh. “Are you comparing Jews murdered because they were Jewish by Arabs, to Arabs who were killed during their attempts to murder Jews?
“In a normal country you would be prosecuted for aiding the enemy in time of war!”
“You live like a king here,” wrote another user. “Better than me, and you’re inventing fantasies. Go to Jordan or Syria and tell them about the source of the hatred. We returned Gush Katif, and what did we get? Enough!”