Arab leaders accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of "encouraging bloodshed" in his condemnations of the deadly terror shooting at a Tel Aviv pub on Friday afternoon.
Netanyahu, speaking at the scene of the attack on Saturday night, said he was "not prepared to accept two States of Israel, a state of law for most...and a state within a state for some..in which there is no law enforcement and there is Islamist incitement."
He further added that he had implemented a plan to "dramatically increase law enforcement services in the Arab sector."
In an interview with the Hamas-affiliated Palestine magazine on Monday, MK Basel Ghattas (Joint List) said Netanyahu's remarks "encourage bloodshed, are fascistic and come from a prime minister who is racist."
Ghattas charged Netanyahu and the "racist" right-wing as the "big winners in the hate speech and racism against Palestinians in Israel."
He was not, he insisted, afraid of threats from the government, stressing the Arab community in Israel has "the means to defend ourselves. We live in our villages and know how to defense ourselves. We will not allow racists or extremists to hurt our security."
Political commentator and Haifa resident, Alif Sabaj, said Israeli Arabs rejected Israel's claims the Arabs were the aggressors, and instead assert they are the ones under attack.
"Netanyahu's remarks express a clear declaration of war on the Palestinians in Israel," he blasted.