Jerusalem – Arab Mayor Heckles Arab Party Leader During Live Broadcast

Jerusalem – The wave of attacks sweeping across Israel has exposed divisions in the Arab community itself.

In an exchange broadcast on Israeli TV, the mayor of the Arab city of Nazareth scolded Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Arab party in parliament.

Mayor Ali Salem said harsh rhetoric by Arab lawmakers had kept Jewish tourists from visiting his city, hurting residents’ livelihoods.

“Ayman, go look someplace else. You’ve ruined the city!” he screamed as Odeh was about to be interviewed by a TV station. “There wasn’t even a single Jew here today. Not even one!”

Switching to Hebrew, Salem shouted, “What are you doing to us? You don’t do anything! You burned the world! Shut up! Get out of here.”

Israel’s Arab minority makes up about 20 percent of the country’s 8 million people. While they have full citizenship rights, they often suffer discrimination in such areas as jobs and housing. Mistrust of Netanyahu remains high following his election day appeal for supporters to go to the polls, warning them that Arabs were voting “in droves.”

In a fiery speech at parliament, Netanyahu accused Arab parties of “undermining” the country. He called on Israel’s Arab citizens to “kick out the extremists among you.”