Netanyahu: We won’t tolerate Hamas or ISIS flags at protests in Israel

Premier spoke in the aftermath of Saturday’s violent riots by Israeli Arabs in the Lower Galilee near the village of Kafr Kana.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Netanyahu speaks at weekly cabinet meeting - November 9, 2014
Israel won’t tolerate violent rallies within its midst in which the protesters call for the nation’s destruction, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the cabinet on Sunday.
He spoke in the aftermath of Saturday’s violent riots by Israeli Arabs in the Lower Galilee near the village of Kafr Kana.
“We are not prepared to tolerate more demonstrations in the heart of our cities in which Hamas or ISIS flags are waved and calls are made to redeem Palestine with blood and fire, calling in effect for the destruction of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said.
“I have instructed the interior minister to use all means, including evaluating the possibility of revoking the citizenship of those who call for the destruction of the State of Israel,” he said.
"Israel is a nation of law. Whoever violates the law will be punished severely. We will not tolerate disturbances and riots. We will take determined action against those who throw stones, firebombs and fireworks, and block roads, and against demonstrations that call for our destruction,” Netanyahu said.
On Saturday thousands of Israeli Arabs rioted to protest an incident in which police shot and killed a resident of the Kafr Kana village, Khayr al-Din al-Hamdan, after he attacked them with a knife.
Video from a private security camera appearing to show the incident showed Hamdan trying unsuccessfully to break the windows of the police van with a sharp object. When officers got out of the van, Hamdan retreated and footage showed at least one officer shoot him with a pistol.
Israeli Arabs have called a one-day strike.
Saturday’s riots in the Lower Galilee followed weeks of violence in Jerusalem between Arab and Jewish residents of the city.
On Sunday, Netanyahu blamed the violence on the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and radical Islamic movements. He called for movements in Israel funded by extremist Islam movements to be outlawed.
“Standing behind this incitement are – first of all – the various Islamic movements: Hamas and the Islamic movement in Israel,” he said.
“In the forefront, at least vis-a-vis the agitation on the Temple Mount, are the Mourabitoun and the Mourabiat – movements engaged in incitement and which are financed by funds from extremist Islam,” Netanyahu said.
“I have instructed that they be outlawed. But also standing behind this incitement is the Palestinian Authority and its leader, Abu Mazen. The website of their official body, Fatah, explains that the Jewish people were, in effect, never here, that the Temple was never here, that David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah and the kings and prophets of Israel – are all fiction,” Netanyahu said.
“This is nothing less than a clear attempt to distort not only the modern truth, but also the historical truth. Against these distortions and these gross lies, we must tell the truth to our people and to the world,” Netanyahu said.
Reuters contributed to this report.