Galilee Arab village
Galilee Arab villageFlash 90

National Union Secretary-General Ofir Sofer today slammed MK Ahmed Tibi's call for Israeli Arabs to settle in Jewish communities in the Galilee. "I call on young Arab couples who want to upgrade and take care of their children's future to move to Afula, Karmiel, and Upper Nazareth," Tibi said.

"Tibi's statement exposes the true plan of the Arab leadership and the people on the Joint List," says Sofer.

"They already understood a Palestinian state won't arise so now they're trying to undermine the foundations of the Jewish State from within," he said.

Ofir Sofer
Ofir Sofercredit: Hillel Meir

"Tibi may 'only' be calling on Arabs to settle in Jewish neighborhoods but, in practice, the phenomenon is already at its peak," notes the secretary-general of the National Union.

"The serious consequences of turning all Galilee cities into mixed cities are still ahead of us. What will they learn in the municipal kindergarten in a few years, about Ramadan or Rosh Hashana?

"The State of Israel must deal with this problem now and not wake up after it's too late. The Nationality Law is a small and basic part of a comprehensive solution requiring Judaization of the Galilee and the Negev as an essential means of preserving the Jewish majority in the Galilee and the security of the State of Israel."

The Nationality Law would establish the status of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in its homeland as a unique right of the Jewish people. It would also anchor the symbols of state, Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Jewish calendar as the country's official calendar, and the Hebrew language as the official language.

Several MKs, as well as Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and President Reuven Rivlin, have opposed Section 7 of the law, which allows Jewish communal settlements to refuse to accept non-Jewish residents.