Tibi: Israel must show empathy on 'Nakba Day'

MK slams National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau for likening "Nakba Day" events to Nazism.

By LAHAV HARKOV
MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al) spoke out against criticism of “Nakba Day” demonstrations on Tuesday, calling for Jewish Israelis to show empathy.
“Recognition and empathy of the other’s suffering is a lofty, humane value and a step toward peace between nations,” Tibi said at a demonstration near Umm el-Fahm.
The MK slammed Energy and Water Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beytenu) for likening Nakba Day events to Nazism, saying the comparison is “deviant and outrageous.”
In reference to Monday’s Hadash Party-sponsored Nakba Day event on Tel Aviv University’s campus, Landau said that it was unthinkable that, while the world marked the victory over the Nazis, some students identified more with SS soldiers.
Tibi repeated his statement that Australian and Canadian natives mark their equivalent of Nakba Day, adding that an American representative attends a memorial of atom bomb victims in Hiroshima each year.
“Denying the ‘Nakba’ will not erase the collective memory of a nation that underwent ethnic cleansing in 1948 by erasing 530 villages and creating a refugee problem,” Tibi said.