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| Netanyahu Apologizes for Comments About Israeli Arabs | Netanyahu Apologizes for Comments About Israeli Arabs |
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| JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel apologized Monday for warning last week that Arab citizens were voting in “droves,” comments that have been denounced by President Obama, other world leaders, American Jewish leaders and many Israelis as anti-democratic, race-baiting and fear-mongering. | JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel apologized Monday for warning last week that Arab citizens were voting in “droves,” comments that have been denounced by President Obama, other world leaders, American Jewish leaders and many Israelis as anti-democratic, race-baiting and fear-mongering. |
| “I know that my comments last week offended some Israeli citizens and offended members of the Israeli Arab community,” Mr. Netanyahu said, according to a translation provided by his party, Likud. “This was never my intent. I apologize for this.” | “I know that my comments last week offended some Israeli citizens and offended members of the Israeli Arab community,” Mr. Netanyahu said, according to a translation provided by his party, Likud. “This was never my intent. I apologize for this.” |
| The apology came hours after Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, announced that Mr. Netanyahu had secured the backing of 67 of the 120 Parliament members elected last week and officially designated him to form the next government. Mr. Rivlin, whose first months in office have been marked by outreach to Arabs in Israel, was among those who criticized Mr. Netanyahu’s Election Day statements, saying on Sunday, “Everyone must be careful in their comments, especially those that the entire world hears.” | The apology came hours after Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, announced that Mr. Netanyahu had secured the backing of 67 of the 120 Parliament members elected last week and officially designated him to form the next government. Mr. Rivlin, whose first months in office have been marked by outreach to Arabs in Israel, was among those who criticized Mr. Netanyahu’s Election Day statements, saying on Sunday, “Everyone must be careful in their comments, especially those that the entire world hears.” |
| The uproar served as a final act for a divisive, ugly campaign of personal attacks. Midway through last Tuesday’s balloting, Mr. Netanyahu posted a video on his Facebook page expressing alarm that Arabs were “being bused to the polling stations in droves” by left-wing organizations. Mr. Netanyahu said in a series of interviews on Thursday that he did not intend to suppress the Arab vote, as many critics contended, only to inspire Israelis who supported him to get to polling places themselves. | The uproar served as a final act for a divisive, ugly campaign of personal attacks. Midway through last Tuesday’s balloting, Mr. Netanyahu posted a video on his Facebook page expressing alarm that Arabs were “being bused to the polling stations in droves” by left-wing organizations. Mr. Netanyahu said in a series of interviews on Thursday that he did not intend to suppress the Arab vote, as many critics contended, only to inspire Israelis who supported him to get to polling places themselves. |
| But Monday’s statement, made to a gathering of Israeli Arabs at the prime minister’s residence, was the first hint of an apology. According to the statement, Mr. Netanyahu also told the group: “I view myself as the prime minister of each and every citizen of Israel. Without any prejudice based on religion, ethnicity or gender, I view every citizen as my partner in building a more secure, more prosperous state of Israel and a nation that benefits the needs and interests of all our citizenry.” | |
| The prime minister’s original comments regarding Israel’s 1.4 million Arab citizens helped fuel the escalating crisis between Mr. Netanyahu and the Obama administration, which has said in recent days that it is reassessing its policy of protecting Israel in forums like the United Nations. Mr. Obama, in an interview published by The Huffington Post on Saturday, said, “That kind of rhetoric was contrary to what is the best of Israel’s traditions,” can “give ammunition to folks who don’t believe in a Jewish state” and “starts to erode the meaning of democracy in the country.” | The prime minister’s original comments regarding Israel’s 1.4 million Arab citizens helped fuel the escalating crisis between Mr. Netanyahu and the Obama administration, which has said in recent days that it is reassessing its policy of protecting Israel in forums like the United Nations. Mr. Obama, in an interview published by The Huffington Post on Saturday, said, “That kind of rhetoric was contrary to what is the best of Israel’s traditions,” can “give ammunition to folks who don’t believe in a Jewish state” and “starts to erode the meaning of democracy in the country.” |
| Monday’s apology was orchestrated by Mr. Netanyahu’s political team, not his government office. Photographs and video distributed by a party spokesman showed the prime minister and his wife surrounded by several dozen Arab, Bedouin and Druze leaders, some in traditional headgear, in a courtyard of their official Jerusalem residence. The guests rewarded Mr. Netanyahu’s words with vigorous applause, some even rising to their feet. | |
| Ahmad Tibi, a Palestinian member of Israel’s Parliament, said none of the people elected Tuesday on a joint list of Arab parties had been invited to the event, and that the group was made up mainly of longstanding Likud supporters. | |
| Mr. Tibi called Mr. Netanyahu’s statement “an expression of regret and not a sincere apology,” and he said “the test needs to be in the actual steps” in terms of treatment of minorities, who make up a fifth of Israel’s population. | |
| He called on the prime minister to stop progress on the so-called nationality bill approved last year, which would emphasize Israel’s Jewishness, and to retract his statement inviting Arabs who demonstrate against Israeli policies, including last summer’s war in Gaza, to leave the country. | |
| “Discrimination is the policy,” Mr. Tibi said in a statement to reporters, “and equality is a way of life that the prime minister and his government are as far away from as the skies are from the ground.” | |
| Israeli news sites reported that the Arab joint list coalition of small parties, which garnered 13 parliamentary seats in Tuesday’s election, also dismissed Mr. Netanyahu’s apology. | |
| “To our regret, the racism of Netanyahu and his governments did not begin and will not end with this inciting statement,” the coalition said, according to the NRG website. “Racist and separatist legislation and discriminating policies are Netanyahu’s working plan for the new Parliament, and so we are left with no option but to reject his apology and to continue our struggle for equality for the Arab population.” |