JERUSALEM (AP) – Arab political leaders in Israel on Tuesday rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apology for comments he made in last week’s national elections that offended members of the Arab community and said his words made him unsuitable to return for a third consecutive term on the job.
The spat has touched on longstanding claims of discrimination by Israel’s Arab minority, which makes up 20 percent of the Jewish state, and signaled that the rift will not be healed anytime soon. An Arab advocacy center in Israel said the country’s national elections brought an “unprecedented level of racist incitement” against the minority community.
In the heat of a close race last week, Netanyahu posted a video on his Facebook page where he implored his hard-line supporters to head to the polls, saying that “left-wing organizations” were bussing Arabs to the polls “in droves.” The comments drew accusations of racism from Arab voters and a White House rebuke.
Netanyahu told a gathering of Arab dignitaries Monday that he apologized for the election-day warning, saying he did not intend to offend. But Arab politicians said his election victory was illegitimate, claiming Netanyahu won the vote by pandering to anti-Arab fears.
“We call on Netanyahu to return the mandate he received on the basis of incitement and fear-mongering,” the Joint List, a coalition of mostly Arab parties, said in a statement. Netanyahu has secured a majority of backers in the new parliament and is expected to be formally tapped on Wednesday to form the next government.