The chairman of the Religious Zionist Party, Bezalel Smotrich, told the Arabic-language channel of the i24NEWS network on Wednesday that his party will not be in the same government with the Arab parties.
"The State of Israel is a Jewish and democratic state. These are the two basic definitions that define the democratic field in which we play. Those who accept the definition of the field can be a legitimate player on the field. Those who deny these two parts cannot be a legitimate partner," he stressed.
"Unfortunately, the leadership of the Israeli Arabs, I do not say that this applies to all Arabs, the political leadership of the Israeli Arabs currently denies these two elements: It denies the Jewish state. They are not willing to accept that the State of Israel is a Jewish state. They support the worst of our enemies, whether it’s Hezbollah, Iran, and Hamas in Gaza. They also do not accept the democratic state because anyone who supports terrorism, violence and makes a pilgrimage to visit terrorists who smashed children's skulls after they are released from Israeli prisons, then he also does not accept democracy because there is no violence in democracy."
"I am waiting for the day when the Israeli Arabs will elect a leadership that will accept, as the Druze in the State of Israel accept, that Israel is a Jewish state and they will want to live in it as citizens with equal rights and obligations and that is excellent. A leadership that accepts Israel as a Jewish state. A leadership that will object to, and will not God forbid defend and identify with terrorism and violence, then they will surely be legitimate partners. As long as the leadership of the Israeli Arabs does not accept Israel as neither Jewish nor democratic, it turns the table, it does not accept the conditions of the game. They cannot be legitimate partners in any government," he said.
Smotrich was asked if he would be willing to be part of a government backed by Mansour Abbas and his Ra'am party.
"I will not be a partner in such a government under any circumstances. There is no difference in what I said earlier between Mansour Abbas and [Joint List chairman] Ayman Odeh. Mansour Abbas also does not accept the State of Israel as a Jewish state. Unfortunately, Mansour Abbas and the Islamic Movement he came from also visited the families of terrorists more than once, in order to turn these terrorists into martyrs and cultural heroes."
"I do not know what his positions are and I do not know if I share them or not. I know there is a real religion, the Jewish religion, which is a religion of peace and a religion of love, and a religion of tolerance and acceptance. By the way, it’s a religion that does not seek to make everyone Jews, all it seeks is its right to live according to its faith. And there is a religion, unfortunately, of violence, of terror, of jihad, that is the religion that Mansour Abbas represents.I have no connection with that, even if both of these two are called 'religion', they are really not really the same thing," he concluded.