National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir responded to claims made by Ra'am chairman Mansour Abbas concerning the number of illegal homes demolished in the Negev.
In a video he released, Ben Gvir said, "Racism is a lie. Listen carefully, and tell all your friends: anyone who builds illegally-their house will be demolished."
Yesterday, in a speech delivered in Arabic from the Knesset plenum, Abbas said that the current coalition's only achievement is its ability to operate in full coordination among all its components in order to complete its term in office.
According to Abbas, the right-wing government's "report card" consists of "failure, crimes, murder, demolitions, and wars," whereas during the previous "government of change," Ra'am was an influential coalition partner that advanced meaningful solutions to the problems facing Arab society.
Abbas also claimed that during the previous government, violence and crime declined by 15% within a single year. He added that had the government completed a full four-year term, the number of fatalities could have been reduced to "only forty deaths, or even fewer."
He further said that during the previous government, only four occupied homes were demolished in the Negev, whereas, according to him, Ben Gvir boasts of carrying out 5,700 demolition operations over the past year.
Abbas also criticized Hadash and Ta'al of the Joint List, saying that Ra'am had been willing to take responsibility and that its Knesset members had been prepared to pay the political price.
He added, "Our colleagues from the Joint List did not understand the responsibility that rested on them," and questioned what the public had gained from the previous government and what it had lost with its collapse and the continuation of the current government's tenure.