PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi
“The real incitement stems from Israel’s military occupation of Palestine and its enslavement of an entire nation. The Israeli hardline extremist government led by Benjamin Netanyahu is responsible for generating a culture of hate and racism in Israel, inciting violence and feeding extremism. Updated regularly, this report includes samples of recent derogatory and inflammatory comments and incitement by Israeli government officials and leaders specifically meant to distort reality and mislead public opinion.”
Examples of recent inflammatory comments and incitement by Israeli officials and leaders:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “We’ll meet again next year right here in Jerusalem, the united capital, forever united, of the State of Israel.” (February 21, 2018)
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman: “The situation in Gaza is indeed difficult… But there is no humanitarian crisis.” (February 5, 2018)
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked: “For every law the government supports, we are making efforts to implement it in Judea and Samaria [occupied West Bank], in order to normalize life there. In addition, we are developing judicial tools that will enable [official recognition of] ‘settlements’ and buildings in Judea and Samaria [occupied West Bank], something which the government has neglected for a long time, and when I entered office, I established a team to find judicial solutions to problems that we have there.” (February 19, 2018)
“I think that ‘Judaizing the Galilee’ is not an offensive term. We used to talk like that. In recent years we’ve stopped talking like that. I think it’s legitimate without violating the full rights of the Arab residents of Israel… There is place to maintain a Jewish majority even at the price of violation of rights.” (February 12, 2018)
“There is place to maintain a Jewish majority even at the price of violation of rights.” (February 12, 2018)
“There are places where the character of the State of Israel as a Jewish state must be maintained, and this sometimes comes at the expense of equality.” (February 12, 2018)
Education Minister and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett: “A nation that invents its past has no future. Palestinian ancestors might have existed 5,000 years ago, but south of here, in the Arabian Peninsula. I advise Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas] not to focus on an imagined past but rather on creating a practical future.” (February 20, 2018)
“I am determined to advance the issue of sovereignty [over settlements]. It is a plan six years in the making and I really think that the rare constellation of a right-wing government in Israel, a favorable administration in DC and an international situation that enables it, should allow us to proceed after 50 years.” (February 13, 2018)
Minister of Science, Technology and Space Ofir Akunis: “First of all, before imposing sovereignty over all the territories of Judea and Samaria [occupied West Bank], sovereignty should be applied to all of Area C, the area that isn’t subject to dispute and where all the Jews live. And yes, I think the Prime Minister is acting correctly when he talks about coordinating with the Americans, because God has performed a miracle for us and there are now a President and Vice President in the White House who sympathize with the people of Israel and the Land of Israel.” (February 12, 2018)
“We have to build in the entire Land of Israel and not condition it on terrorism. Of course, I’m happy to have voted to authorize [the outpost of] Havat Gilad. But there is also a very effective tool that can be used: Expulsion: Deporting the terrorist’s family. And another tool: Demolishing the terrorist’s house immediately, without waiting for the Supreme Court.” (February 12, 2018)
Economy Minister Eli Cohen: “No one can be victorious over the Jewish nation, and we will eliminate terror. We will continue to be united, and to build the Land of Israel here in Samaria [occupied West Bank]. We will strengthen the settlements, and this will be our victory over all of the lowlifes.” (February 9, 2018)
Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Minister of Environmental Protection Ze’ev Elkin: “From the application of sovereignty on Ariel University [let us proceed] to the application of sovereignty on Jewish [settler] communities in Judea and Samaria [occupied West Bank]!” (February 12, 2018)
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan: “The battle for our sovereignty in Jerusalem isn’t over. The PA, together with additional elements, are trying to undermine it and to harm, and eat away at it every day and I will continue to act with all my strength to prevent this and demonstrate our sovereignty in every part of our capital.” (February 26, 2018)
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely: “For the first time, the Israeli leadership is no longer willing to accept the idea of fake Palestinian refugees. Only this week in his speech at the UN, Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas] spoke of ‘six million Palestinian refugees’ who were not born in Israel – six million people raised on the idea that they will ‘return’ to the State of Israel. This approach is certainly not leading us towards a peace process, but instead to perpetual conflict. The international community has for years ignored this ‘demand to return’, and it serves to eternalize the conflict. Therefore, anyone who seeks peace should stop supporting the idea of the refugees that UNRWA continues to espouse, and the demand for a return whose aim is the destruction of Israel.” (February 22, 2018)
Knesset Member Sharren Haskel (Likud): “The bill to apply Israeli law to the Jordan Valley [occupied West Bank] is the key to true stability and coexistence. On both the right and left, there is agreement on the security importance of our eastern border. This is the first step in the implementation of law and order in an area where for 50 years residents [settlers] have lived in a lack of clarity and have not received support in development and infrastructure.” (February 15, 2018)
Knesset Member Yehuda Glick (Likud): “I don’t understand how you don’t see how establishing another state puts us all in danger. The Palestinians aren’t coming to the table, so we’re moving forward, and moving forward means sovereignty over the whole of Judea and Samaria [occupied West Bank]…” (February 5, 2018)
Knesset Member Oren Hazan (Likud): “If I was there, she [Palestinian child prisoner Ahed Tamimi] would finish in the hospital. For sure. Nobody could stop me. I would kick, kick her face, believe me.” (February 1, 2018)
Knesset Member Nurit Koren (Likud): “I suggest the Joint Arab List MKs concentrate on truly working for the good of the Israeli citizens who elected them, instead of trying to concoct provocations and science fiction movies about an imaginary nation of job seekers who came from Arab countries a long time after the Jewish nation.” (February 1, 2018)
Knesset Member Yoel Hasson (Zionist Union): “You aren’t willing to go through with this and actually annex [anything.] Annex! Follow through! Don’t make it a creeping annexation. Go with the ideological truth of the true right.” (February 7, 2018)
Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon: “Let me be clear. For thousands of years, Jerusalem has been the heart and soul of our people… and it will remain the undivided capital of the State of Israel forever.” (February 20, 2018)
Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid: “There are not millions of Palestinian refugees and there never were. Israel will never agree to the ‘right of return.’” (February 20, 2018)
Former Internal Affairs Minister Gideon Sa’ar: “Applying Israeli law after fifty years is first and foremost the normalization of Israeli life in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley [occupied West Bank]. This is our commitment to our citizens [settlers] and is required by basic fairness towards them and their families.” (February 13, 2018)
“… Jewish settlement in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley [occupied West Bank] will always be part of the State of Israel, and the role of our generation is to remove any question about the future of settlement.” (February 13, 2018)
“In our [settler] communities in Judea and Samaria [occupied West Bank], a third generation has already been established. The settlers paved the way, establishing physical facts on the ground. Now it’s the statesmen’s turn to establish political facts.” (February 13, 2018)
