The Knesset election campaign period leads to all sorts of strange situations, such as the one that took place this morning, Sunday, when Prime Minister Netanyahu responded to an Instagram post written by model and actress Rotem Sela.
Sela had responded to an interview journalist Rina Matzliah held with Culture Minister Miri Regev, during which Regev asserted that Gantz would form a coalition with the Arab parties.
“I see Miri Regev sitting and explaining to Rina Matzliah that the public needs to be careful because Gantz will form a coalition with the Arabs if he is elected,” she wrote.
“Rina is silent. I ask myself, why doesn’t Rina ask in bewilderment - And what’s the problem with the Arabs??? Master of the Universe, there are also Arab citizens in this country. Israel is a state of its citizens, and all people were born equal and Arabs, Heaven forbid, are people too, and so are Druze, and so are gays, by the way, and so are lesbians and so are…*shock*...leftists.”
Sela’s words garnered support from some users, but elicited a storm of opposition from many others. Sela responded to those who attacked her words, writing, “To everyone who wrote really disgusting things after the last story, I love you all. Your repellent statements will never prevent me from stating my opinion. A whole generation of children grew up in our country without hope for peace, and that is sad and depressing. If only politicians, whose voices are heard strongest, were those who give true hope for peace, equality and love, instead of incitement and division.”
This morning, as noted, Prime Minister Netanyahu also joined the respondents to Sela’s post, writing on his Instagram account: "Dear Rotem, important amendment: Israel is not a state of all its citizens. According to the Basic Law on Nationality we passed, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, and of it only," he wrote. "As you wrote, there is no problem with the Arab citizens of Israel - they have equal rights to us all and the Likud government invested more in the Arab sector than any other government. The Likud only wanted to sharpen the central question in these elections: A strong right-wing government headed by me or a left-wing government headed by Lapid and Gantz with the support of the Arab parties? Lapid and Gantz have no other way of forming a government and such a government will undermine the security of the state and its citizens. The decision - in another month at the ballot box. Good day.”