by Ari Soffer
Lucy Aharish, Israel's best known Arab TV anchor, unleashed a fierce condemnation of Israeli-Arab leaders and MKs for the role they are playing in stoking violence against Israeli Jews over the past several weeks.
Aharish made her comments in a Channel 2 interview on Tuesday, just hours after two deadly attacks in Jerusalem by Arab terrorists, and another two Arab-on-Jew stabbings in the central Israeli city of Ra'anana.
She accused Arab leaders of not only "keeping a horrific and deafening silence," but of actually "adding fire to the environment" and inciting further attacks.
Aharish - who herself works as a morning news anchor for Channel 2 - noted that once the dust had settled it would ultimately be Israeli Arabs who paid the price for their supposed leaders' actions.
"The second intifada took such a heavy price from Israeli Arabs, and the Palestinians. We are not learning from the mistakes," she said.
Dismissing the oft-made accusations by Israeli-Arab MKs and Islamist leaders, as well as Palestinian Arab leaders, that Israel is trying to "change the status quo" on the Temple Mount as false, she continued: "I don't understand... Even if the status quo on the Temple Mount has been broken, does that permit someone to go and murder someone else because of a holy place, or because of religion, or because, 'heaven forbid,' a Jewish person went to pray in the House of God?"
"I can't understand it or comprehend it," she continued, noting that many of the Arab MKs invoking "Al Aqsa" in inflammatory speeches aren't even religious Muslims.
"What God are they speaking of that allows for children to go out and murder innocent people?" she asked, referring to a shocking anti-Semitic stabbing spree the previous day committed by two Arab children.
"I don't understand it and I don't justify it in any way. I can't accept it. I'm not prepared to accept even excuses of 'frustration'," she added, echoing recent words by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in which he dismissed the notion that the string of attacks was linked to frustration over lack of progress in peace talks, linking it instead to Islamic extremism.
Aharish concluded by observing that the actions of Arab Israeli MKs and others demonstrated their "weakness" as leaders.
"It's so easy to go and march, and go up to Al Aqsa (Temple Mount) and scream and shout - even though you don't believe in God, you don't even have a religion... but the most important thing is to say 'it's ours!'
"Which 'ours' are you talking about? ...It's the House of God. Yours? Do you own it? Do you have a deed of ownership? What are you talking about.
"You are inciting thousands of young people to go out into the streets. You are destroying their future with your own hands."
Aharish is just the latest Israeli-Arab figure to vent her frustration at radical Arab MKs for inciting violence, despite its negative impacts on the very constituents they are supposed to be supporting.
Last week the Arab mayor of Nazareth, Ali Salam, interrupted a live interview with Joint List leader Ayman Odeh to harangue him for "ruining" his city by driving a wedge between Arabs and Jews, in video footage which went viral.
"You have ruined this city, ruined everything! We did not have even one Jew here today, not one!" Salam screamed at a visibly shocked Odeh.
"What are giving interviews for? You have done nothing! You have destroyed the world! Get Out of here!” the angry mayor thundered at the speechless MK.
Ari Soffer
Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/201942#.Vh-uVyuzdds
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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