Likud denies Netanyahu wrote Arabs ‘want to destroy us’

However, Netanyahu began an effort to take votes from extreme Right.

By GIL HOFFMAN, TZVI JOFFRE
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reveals the Iranian nuclear bases uncovered by Israel, September 9 2019 (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reveals the Iranian nuclear bases uncovered by Israel, September 9 2019
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu distanced himself on Wednesday from a message sent by his Facebook page that called on voters to avoid a left-wing government of “Arabs who want to destroy us all – women, children and men – and allow a nuclear Iran that will kill us.”
A Likud spokeswoman said that the post was a mistake of a headquarters employee.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu did not see the post, nor did he approve of it,” she said. “He does not agree with the statement. When it was brought to his attention, he asked for the post to be removed immediately.”
KAN reported Wednesday night that despite the denial, senior officials in the campaign stand behind the message, which is part of a wider campaign to woo right-wing voters from Otzma Yehudit and Yamina.
As part of that campaign, Netanyahu gave a televised interview to the Arutz Sheva website on Wednesday in which he repeatedly warned against voting for Otzma.
“They are throwing votes in the trash and can bring about a left-wing government,” Netanyahu warned in the interview. “A left-wing, Arab government has never been closer.”
He said voting for Otzma and the far-right Noam Party is crazy, and asked how many times the mistake of splitting the right-wing vote would be made.
Joint List leader Ayman Odeh condemned the message, saying “We turned to Facebook. They must act immediately to put an end to this racist and dangerous incitement by Netanyahu against the Arab population,” according to KAN.
“This is how a blatant distribution of hate and racism looks, but there is something that can be done. Go onto Benjamin Netanyahu’s Facebook page and report his page as a hateful page and help stop the incitement,” Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg said.
Hadash-Ta’al MK Ofer Cassif said that the prime minister had “finally crossed the line of sanity.”
“Such a blatant and explicit Nazi statement should shock and terrify every person, on the Left and on the Right,” Cassif said. “Even if the words were publicized by mistake, the commander’s spirit is clear. See [Likud] MK [Miki] Zohar’s statements on ‘the Jewish race’ last Monday.”