Israeli minister calls Arab lawmakers ‘war criminals’

Frustrated with growing anti-Tel Aviv sentiment in the aftermath of the new US policy on Jerusalem al-Quds, the regime’s minister of military affairs has stepped up his hostile rhetoric against Israeli Arabs and labeled their lawmakers “war criminals.”

Avigdor Lieberman lashed out at the Joint List, which has 13 members at the Israel’s parliament (Knesset), when the legislature met on Monday to debate a no-confidence motion brought by the party against the Israeli cabinet following the minister’s call for a boycott of Israeli Arabs.

Presenting the motion, Joint List lawmaker Haneen Zoabi accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet of committing war crimes against Palestinians.

“This government is a criminal government. The prime minister should be put on trial at the International Criminal Court at The Hague because he is a war criminal, together with his coalition, which kills children, steals land and persecutes human rights organizations,” she said.

The parliamentarian also censured the 50-year occupation of Palestinian lands, stressing, “Occupation is always belligerent, violent, illegitimate and a basis for war crimes.”

Irked by Zoabi’s remarks, Lieberman said the Joint List’s presence at the Israeli parliament was “by mistake and the time will come when you will not be here.”

“Is someone talking about war crimes? Those who are sitting here are war criminals, the entire Joint List are war criminals,” he claimed.

On Saturday, residents of the Wadi Ara region in the occupied territories held a protest against Trump’s recent declaration of the US recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital” and the relocation of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied ancient city.

The decision sparked a wave of global condemnations, demonstrations and warnings of further conflagration in the Middle East, and led to violent clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces.

Lieberman triggered anger among Israeli Arabs by saying a day later that the Wadi Ara residents were “not part of us” and that the Israelis should no longer buy their products.

He urged non-Arab Israelis “to impose an economic boycott on Wadi Ara – don’t shop there, don’t eat in the restaurants and don't buy services from.”

Joint List chairman Ayman Odeh said Lieberman’s boycott call was reminiscent of “dark regimes in human history,” describing the Israeli minister as “the representative of fascist regimes in the extremist government of Netanyahu.”

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